.i^,>~-.-', ;.,- ■,.'■':.■*(■.., .•■■ "',»;■ : , :,:''v; , '.'.-..".- 1 ",'.'/. 



G B 

705 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Dieectok 



Water-supply Paper 220 



GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES 



OF 



A PORTION OF SOUTH-CENTRAL OREGON 



BY 



GERALD A. WARING 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1908 




Class ^tulO'd 

Book Qi \Y s 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/geologywaterreso01wari 



"77 r 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 



Water-supply Paper 220 






GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES 



OF 



A PORTION OF SOUTH-CENTRAL OREGON 

// 79- 

BY 

GERALD A. WARING 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1908 



Oft} 



o? 



'; 



D. OF 0. 

NOV 10 S908 



<fc 



CONTENTS. 

Vage. 

Introduction 7 

Objects of reconnaissance 7 

Area examined 7 

Acknowledgements 8 

Previous study 8 

Geography ' 9 

General features 9 

Topography , 9 

Mountains ' : 9 

Scarps 9 

Minor features 10 

Lakes 11 

Character of the lakes 12 

Alkalinity 12 

Climate 14 

General conditions 14 

Temperature and rainfall records 15 

Vegetation 16 

Animal life 17 

Settlements 18 

Industries 18 

Grazing 18 

Agriculture 19 

Lumbering 19 

Mining 20 

Historical notes 20 

Geology 21 

Character and age of rocks 21 

Classes of rocks 22 

Older acidic effusives 22 

Older basaltic effusives 23 

Basalts 23 

Tuffs 23 

Recent eruptive material 24 

Valley fillings 24 

Lake deposits 24 

Alluvium 25 

Structure 25 

Faults 25 

Folds.... 26 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

Geology — Continued. Page. 

Physiography 27 

Early history 27 

Deformation 28 

Preservation of deformational features 29 

Erosional modifications 30 

Lakes 30 

Present lakes 30 

Quaternary lakes 30 

Hydrography 31 

Streams 31 

Abert Lake drainage : 31 

Silver Lake drainage 31 

Sprague River drainage 32 

Goose Lake drainage 32 

Summer Lake Basin 32 

Warner Valley streams 32 

Northern desert area 33 

Discharge measurements 33 

Character of discharge 35 

Run-off ratios 35 

Effect of forests '. : 36 

Lakes 37 

Changes in surface level 37 

Annual surface inflow 38 

Evaporation rates 40 

Subsurface inflow to Goose Lake 42 

Hydrology 43 

General statement 43 

Shallow water 44 

Unconsolidated deposits 44 

Thickness and processes of formation 44 

Ground- water level 44 

Artesian conditions in lake and stream deposits 45 

Deeper water 46 

Conditions of occurrence 46 

Structures 46 

Temperatures 48 

The lake valleys 49 

Warner Valley 49 

Goose Lake Valley 50 

Abert Lake Basin 51 

Smaller valleys 52 

Valley of Chewaucan Marsh 52 

Summer Lake Valley 53 

Description 53 

Streams : 53 

Springs 54 

Conditions of occurrence 54 

Origin of the Ana River springs 55 

Artesian possibilities 56 

Shallow water 56 

Deep water: - - 57 



CONTENTS. 5 

The lake valleys — Continued. Page. 

Silver Lake Valley 57 

Christmas Lake Valley ' 59 

Description 59 

Settlement 59 

Methods of clearing and farming 61 

Tentative irrigation methods 61 

Desert claims 61 

Pumping • 62 

Storage reservoirs 62 

Ground-water level , 63 

Analyses of waters 66 

Springs 66 

Deeper alluvial water. 66 

Rock water 67 

Structural conditions 67 

Favorable indications 67 

Alkali Lake Valley , 68 

Reclamation projects 70 

Soils 71 

Analyses 71 

Soil constituents 73 

Insoluble residue .' 73 

Lime 73 

Salts present 74 

Alkaline soils 75 

The alkalies and their effects 75 

Treatment of alkaline soils 76 

Conditions in Lake County 78 

Crops adaptable to alkaline soils 78 

Cost of deep wells 78 

Summary 80 

Index 83 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Plate I. Index map showing location of area discussed 7 

II. Reconnaissance topographic map of south-central Oregon In pocket. 

Illy A, Typical sink in high desert near Alkali Lake; B, Hillocks near 

Alkali Lake; C, Alkaline pools in Christmas Lake Valley 10 

IV.' Scarp and landslide area near south end of Lake Abert 12 

Vi Lakeview, Oreg. , from the north 18 

VI." Reconnaissance geologic map of south-central Oregon In pocket. 

Vlli/yi, Fort Rock, from the southeast; B, Alkali Lake, from the north.. 26 

Vllly Sketch of Lake Abert, from the southeast , 50 

IX.'' A, Sagebrush in Christmas Lake Valley; B, Area in Christmas Lake 

Valley, cleared by burning; C, Sand Springs 58 

X.' Approximate geologic cross sections 66 

Fig. 1. Map of Christmas Lake Valley, showing area filed on 60 



S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 220 PL. 1 




INDEX MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF AREA DISCUSSED. 



GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF A PORTION OF 
SOUTH-CENTRAL OREGON. 



By Gerald A. Waring. 



INTRODUCTION. 

OBJECTS OF RECONNAISSANCE. 

The rapidly increasing settlement and development of the West 
which has accompanied the recent industrial expansion of the United 
States has led to a growth of interest in all of those factors that affect 
its adaptability to human needs. One of the clearest evidences of 
this increasing interest is the constant demand for definite and trust- 
worthy information concerning its climate, soils, mineral resources, 
timber, and water. So great is this demand that the Federal and 
local bodies which have been organized to study the natural resources 
are scarcely able to meet it. 

In the arid and semiarid sections no question is of more vital 
importance than that of water supply. Where water can be intro- 
duced or developed in abundance colonization will take place; 
where water exists in limited quantity, sparse settlement is possible; 
but where water is not to be had present conditions must continue. 
The water-resources branch of the United States Geological Survey 
has for many years been making systematic studies of water supplies, 
both surface and subsurface, and in connection with work under way 
in many localities, both in the East and in the West, in the fall of 
1906 the writer was assigned to carry out a reconnaissance in south- 
central Oregon. 

AREA EXAMINED. 

The area examined lies mostly within and includes the greater 
part of Lake County, so that in the following pages it will often be 
referred to simply as Lake County. Its location and extent are 
shown on the index map, PL I. 

The field work was done, except along the main roads, almost 
entirely on horseback, for nearly all of the country except the steeper 

7 



8 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PAET OP OREGON. 

mountain slopes may be thus traversed. Since much of it is sparsely 
settled, a light buckboard, on which food, blankets, and horse feed 
could be carried, was used wherever practicable along the rather 
widely separated roads. 

As no map showing the relief with any approach to accuracy 
existed, the accompanying topographic map (PI. II) has been pre- 
pared; it is based on field observations with pocket compass and 
aneroid barometer and on data compiled from all other available 
sources. Samples of soil and water were also collected for analysis, 
and rock specimens were gathered for future study. The following 
report on this' region therefore includes a discussion of its present 
water resources and the development of a greater supply, a state- 
ment of its agricultural possibilities, and a summary of the data 
collected concerning its geology. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

In collecting these data the writer gained much information from 
the residents of the county, to whom acknowledgment is here made 
for aid rendered in various ways, both during and since the time 
spent in the region. Thanks are due especially to Mr. F. P. Light, 
of Lakeview; Mr. Virgil Conn, of Paisley, and Mr. F. M. Chrisman, 
of Silver Lake. 

PREVIOUS STUDY. 

This region has been little studied by geologists or other scientists, 
partly because, being remote from railroads, it is difficult of access, 
but mainly, perhaps, because of the monotony of its natural features 
and its sparse settlement. In 1882 Prof. I. C. Russell made a hasty 
trip through the region, his observations being embodied in the 
Fourth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey. a The 
late Thomas Condon, professor of geology in the University of 
Oregon, crossed Christmas Lake Valley, and Prof. Edward D. Cope 
also visited the region and published some results of his studies on 
its fishes and fossils. 6 Mr. J. O. Snyder, professor of zoology at 
Stanford University, has been studying the fishes of its lakes and 
streams, and the results of his investigations will appear soon in a 
bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries; but with the exception of the 
papers of Professors Russell and Cope, little has been published 
treating especially of this area. Professor Russell probably visited 
and studied a greater extent of this northwestern country than any 
other scientific observer, and many references to his various publi- 
cations will be made in this paper. 

a Russell, I. C, A geological reconnaissance in southern Oregon: Fourth Ann. Rept. CJ. S. Geol. 
Survey, 1884, pp. 431-464. 

b Cope, E. D., The Silver Lake of Oregon, and its region: Am. Naturalist, November, 1889, pp. 
970-982; On the fishes of the Recent and Pliocene lakes of the western part of the Great Basin and of 
the Idaho Pliocene lake: Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Sci., vol. 35, 1884, pp. 134-167. 



TOPOGRAPHIC CHARACTER. 9 

GEOGRAPHY. 
GENERAL FEATURES. 

Central and southeastern Oregon lies in the northern end of that 
great area between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada from 
winch no streams discharge into the ocean, and which on this account 
is known as the Great Basin region of interior drainage. 

Lake County is in the northwestern extension of this Great Basin 
region. To the north, beyond the Pauline Mountains, is the John 
Day River basin, and to the northwest, beyond the Walker Moun- 
tains and other eastern outliers of the Cascade Range, is the valley of 
Deschutes River; while the Summer Lake "rim rock, "known as 
Winter Ridge, and its mountainous southward extension separate 
the area herein considered from the Klamath Lake drainage area. 

Although this southwestern portion of the county is mountainous, 
the surface of the northern part and of the region to the east is that of 
a broken plateau, whose mean elevation above sea level is between 
4,500 and 5,000 feet. Over this uneven surface the many depressions 
either contain shallow lakes or are sinks in which temporary ponds 
exist only during the wet season. In this plateau region there are no 
rivers, and even well-defined stream channels are rare. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 
MOUNTAINS. 

The area just referred to, in the southwestern part of the county, is 
cut into more mountainous relief by the branches of Chewaucan and 
Sprague rivers, giving it a very different kind of topography from 
that of the rest of the area considered, in which absence of the type 
of relief produced by stream erosion is a chief characteristic. On the 
southeastern border of the Chewaucan River drainage basin an eleva- 
tion of more than 7,000 feet is reached at several points, while other, 
more isolated masses, such as Crooks Peak, rise to heights of more 
than 6,500 feet. The steep mountain slopes back of Lakeview also 
rise fully 2,000 feet above the valley, and contain two or three sum- 
mits well above the 7,000-foot contour. 

SCARPS. 

Although the northern and eastern part of the area studied has 
the character of a broken plateau, one may travel in some directions 
for many miles in the level sandy lake valleys or over the approxi- 
mately level rocky "high desert" without crossing more than an 
occasional depression. But the chief features that relieve the 
monotony of the region are the great scarps that have given it the 
broken character. These trend generally north and south, and the 



10 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OP PART OF OREGON. 

four principal lines border the principal lake valleys, or undrained 
basins. Along its entire eastern side Warner Valley is thus bounded 
by a great escarpment, rising to a height of approximately 3,000 feet 
above the valley floor, while on its western side a lower but also very 
abrupt scarp limits this valley. Another very prominent line of 
bluffs marks the eastern edges of the basins of Goose, Abert, and 
Alkali lakes. Steep but comparatively smooth and rounded slopes 
mark this escarpment where it forms the western face of the hills 
above Lakeview and overlooking Goose Lake, but along the edge of 
Abert Lake it forms a very striking cliff that rises from the water's 
edge to a height of fully 2,000 feet, the upper 600 feet being nearly 
perpendicular. The hills north of Lake Abert obscure this feature 
for a few miles, but along the Alkali Lake basin there is again an 
abrupt scarp, 1,200 feet in height, which is lower to the north and 
dies out near the base of Wagontire Mountain. Another scarp, which 
forms a low bluff near the south end of Lake Abert, extends along 
the northeast side of Chewaucan Marsh, attains a height of about 
1,300 feet opposite Paisley, and passes into the broken country 
beyond. Although on the western side of this marsh also the hills 
rise steeply, it is along Summer Lake that the fourth prominent scarp 
line is best developed, in the ridge named by Fremont " Winter 
Ridge." Silver Lake is confined on each side by scarps which at its 
southern end reach 400 feet in height, but these are only a few miles 
in extent, and are by no means as conspicuous as the others described. 

MINOR FEATURES. 

The surface of the rocky plateau area lying between Christmas Lake 
and Alkali Lake valleys, known as the "high desert," has a minor 
relief peculiar to itself. Instead of well-defined stream channels, it 
has a series of long depressions, approximately parallel, trending in 
a general way from north to south. The larger of these resemble on 
a small scale the coulees of Washington, described by Calkins ; a they 
are often limited by nearly vertical walls of basalt approximately 50 
feet in height. The bottoms of these depressions are so nearly hori- 
zontal as to make it in some instances impossible to tell with the eye 
alone the direction of the slope. In them a string of sinks or small 
playas takes the place of a drainage channel. One of these sinks, 
near the road between Alkali Lake and Paisley, is shown in PI. Ill, A. 
In the spring they may contain a few inches of water, but during 
the greater part of the year they are dry. 

As for other minor features in the northern part of the county, 
mention may be made of the several mountain masses and peaks 

a Calkins Prank C, Geology and water resources of a portion of east-central Washington: Water- 
Supply Paper No. 118, TJ. S. Geol. Survey, 1905, p. 42. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 220 PL. Ill 




A. TYPICAL SINK IN HIGH DESERT NEAR ALKALI LAKE. 




B. HILLOCKS NEAR ALKALI LAKE. 




C. ALKALINE POOLS IN CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 



TOPOGKAPHIC CHARACTER. 11 

that rise above the common level, such as Wagontire and Juniper 
mountains, and the smaller, isolated mesas and buttes. 

In this part of the county, just north of Christmas Lake Valley, 
there is an area covered with lava and cinder cones representing a 
very recent period of volcanic activity. Many of these cones or 
extinct volcanoes are very perfect funnel-shaped craters, and rise 
directly from the nearly level, though in detail harsh and jagged, 
surfaces of the lava flows. 

The sand dunes near Fossil Lake, in Christmas Lake Valley, illus- 
trate still another topographic type. Extending eastward from this 
lake, which is only a few acres in extent, is a region of sand hills, 
fully 6 miles long and averaging perhaps 2 miles in width. The pre- 
vailing west wind has heaped the sand into great dunes with steep 
eastern faces and gentle westward slope. These are slowly traveling 
eastward and have encroached nearly 3 miles on the part of the "high 
desert" known as Pine Ridge. 

The lower slopes along the western side of Summer Lake are 
examples of typical landslide topography, and were noted by Russell 
in 1882. Their principal features are the small basins between the 
back of the slide and the cliff from which the mass has been loosened, 
in which water sometimes collects, and the great blocks of tuffaceous 
material in the landslide debris, whose bedding planes dip in various 
directions. 

Another similar landslide area is that at the southern end of Lake 
Abert, at the base of the escarpment. It is illustrated in PL IV. 

Still another minor but interesting feature is to be seen typically 
developed in the flat near Alkali Lake. Conical hillocks, in many 
cases 10 feet high, somewhat resembling great haycocks (PI. Ill, B), 
and usually topped by greasewood, are thickly clustered on the level 
surface. Along the borders of the flat these are worn down and 
rounded off into the more usual "hogwallow" type -of mound. 

These minor features help much to relieve the monotony of the 
surface, and, as they are on this account very noticeable, have been 
thought worthy of brief mention; but the three most significant 
general features in the topography of this region, and the ones that 
should be borne in mind in considering the land forms are (1) the 
great persistent scarps that extend from north to south, (2) the 
undrained basins at the bases of these scarps, usually occupied by 
lakes or play as, and (3) the general lack of well-defined drainage over 
a large part of the surface. 

LAKES. 

The county has been well named, for besides the larger lakes, Silver, 
Summer, and Abert, approximately 15, 70, and 60 square miles in 
area respectively, the Warner Valley chain of lakes and the northern 
part of Goose Lake lie within the county. Thorn, Christmas, and 



12 " GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

Fossil lakes are small water bodies in Christmas Lake Valley, and 
there are also several large marshes and numerous playas or inter- 
mittent lakes. But these numerous water bodies must not be taken 
to indicate an abundance of water in the region, for it will be remem- 
bered that none escapes through surface streams, and that the lakes 
are only the collecting basins for the run-off from the. mountain slopes 
or the flow from the springs. In a well-watered area with the topo- 
graphic peculiarities of Lake County the water bodies would be much 
more numerous and much larger than those that exist there. 

CHARACTER OF THE LAKES. 

All of the lakes are shallow. None are known to exceed 25 feet 
in depth, although there is an unconfirmed report of greater depths in 
the eastern side of Lake Abert. Christmas and Fossil lakes are only 
2 or 3 feet deep, while Alkali Lake is really a playa, since during the 
summer and fall months it is only an alkaline flat containing two or 
three briny pools. 

The size of these shallow water bodies is dependent on the seasonal 
rainfall, as, indeed, is their very existence. Since' the settlement of 
the country several important changes in their outlines have taken 
place. During the earlier emigrant days the trail crossed Goose 
Lake Valley farther south than at present, the place now being under 
several feet of water. In the early days of Lakeview (now about 6 
miles from the lake) the name of the town was not a misnomer, for 
the lake then extended much farther north than at present, and in 
1869 it overflowed for a short time southward into Pit River. In 

1881 also it is said to have overflowed for two hours during a severe 
gale from the north. a Warner Lake has shrunk during the last half 
century. The present litigation over lands in its valley hinges on the 
question whether between 4,000 and 5,000 acres, now dry, was swamp 
land or part of the bed of the lake at the time of the passage of the 
swamp land act in 1860. Although before his reconnaissance in 

1882 Silver Lake was not known to have gone dry, Russell inferred 
from its comparative freshness that it must have done so within 
recent years, since lakes having no outlet are believed to be freshened 
by desiccation. Therefore the fact that after the exceptionally dry 
season of 1887-88 the lake did dry up, its bed was taken up for farms, 
and one season's crops were gathered before the lake again filled, is 
of especial interest. 

ALKALINITY. 

Like all lakes having no outlet, those of the area under discussion 
are alkaline, the waters of Summer and Abert lakes being exception- 

a Russell, I. C, A geological reconnaissance in southern Oregon: Fourth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey, 1S84, pp. 456-457. 



CHARACTER OF THE LAKES. 



13 



ally so. Kussell, in his reconnaissance report, gives an analysis of 
water from Lake Abert, by F. W. Taylor, and remarks that the per- 
centage of potassium salts is greater than in any other lake whose 
composition is known. But the following analysis of water from this 
lake is given by T. M. Chatard, 6 who says: 

The sample was collected by H. T. Bicldle at the middle of the west side of the lake, 
1 foot below the surface, 30 to 40 feet from shore, September, 1887. * * * This 
analysis shows, as would be expected, that the water of Abert Lake does not differ 
materially from that of any other alkali lake so far discovered. Its low percentage of 
sulphate is its greatest merit [for soda extraction] since it is of all impurities the most 
difficult to remove and the most deleterious when present. 

Analysis of water of Lake Abert.® 
[Average of two samples. T. M. Chatard, analyst.] 



Gr iiter Per Perce nt. 



Si0 2 

K 

Na 

S0 3 

O 

CO2 

O 

CI 

H 

HYPOTHETICAL COMPOSITION 

Si0 2 

KC1 

NaCl 

Na 2 SO< 

Na 2 C0 3 

NaHCO'3 



0.232 


0.59 


.538 


1.37 


14.690 


37.51 


.588 


1.50 


.118 


.30 


T.024 


17.93 


2.462 


6.28 


13. 462 


34.67 


.058 


.15 


39. 172 


100. 00 


.232 


.59 


1.027 


2.62 


21.380 


54.58 


1.050 


2.68 


10.611 


27.09 


4.872 


12.44 



39. 172 



100. 00 



a Chatard says of this analysis (in Am. Jour. Sci.-^ 3d. ser., vol. 136, 1888, pp. 146-150) : " The total quan- 
tity at my disposal was about 200 c. c, an amount too small for any extended research, but sufficient 
for all practical purposes. For each determination 25 c. c. (=25.7792 grams) were taken. Specific 
gravity, 1.03117 at 19.8°." 

This analysis, giving a content of about 3.9 per cent of salts, shows 
the water to be more strongly impregnated than ocean water, which 
contains about 3 J per cent of mineral salts. 

No analysis of the water of Summer Lake is at hand, but a test at 
its western edge, with the electrolytic bridge, indicates a content 

a Op. cit., p. 454. 

b Chatard, T. M., Natural soda, its occurrence and utilization: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 60, 1890, 
pp. 50-52. 

c The alkaline salts of natural waters are electrolytes, and the more alkaline a water is the less resist- 
ance it offers to the passage of an electric current. Hence by means of an electrolytic bridge, consisting 
essentially of an electric battery, resistance coils, and a suitable cup to hold the water to be tested, the 
resistance offered to the passage of the current can be measured, and by comparison of this with the 
resistance measurements of other waters of which analyses also are available the amount of salts in 
solution can be roughly determined. Waters containing only 8 or 10 parts of salts in 100,000 are excep- 
tionally pure, and those containing 30 parts in 100,000 are considered very good. The limit for domestic 
or irrigation purposes is about 400 parts in 100,000, although it depends largely on the character of the 
salt content. 

The average alkaline content of the fresh lakes of North America is given by Russell (Lakes of North 
America, p. 55), as between 15 and 18 parts in 100,000. 



14 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

near the shore of 500 or more parts of salts in 100,000. A sample of 
the efflorescent alkali from its eastern shore consisted almost wholly 
of the sulphate of soda (Glauber's salt), carbonate of soda (sal soda), 
and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) . 

Similar tests of the waters of Silver and Thorn lakes indicated only 
about half as great a salt content as the water of Summer Lake. At 
its northern end Christmas Lake is very alkaline, but at its southern 
end, where the water is of much better quality, it is fed by an inter- 
mittent spring. The efflorescence here, as at Summer Lake, consists 
of the carbonates and sulphate of soda. 

CLIMATE. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS. 

The climate of eastern Oregon is very different from that of the 
better known western valleys of Willamette and Columbia rivers, 
for east of the Cascade Range precipitation is scanty and the region 
is largely desert in character. The climate is not severe, however. 
Its temperature has been compared to that of Ohio or Illinois, 
although its precipitation is much less. The summer days are warm, 
often excessively so on the rocky plateaus, but the nights are cool, 
and in some parts of the country frost may be expected in any month 
of the year. The stormy season is late, February, March, and April 
often being the most disagreeable months, while open weather some- 
times lasts in the fall until Christmas time. On the higher mountains 
and plateaus snow may lie all winter, but in many of the valleys it 
melts after each storm. 

Weather records have been kept in only two places in Lake County 
for any length of time — at Lakeview and at Silver Lake. A station 
was established at Paisley two years ago, and- it is hoped that records 
will also soon be kept at Cliff, near Fossil Lake. In a late bulletin of 
the Department of Agriculture a the following statements, especially 
applicable to Lake County, are made in an article on the climate of 
Oregon by Edward A. Beals. He says that the seasonal precipitation 
is chiefly between the months of October and March, with a secondary 
maximum during May and June, followed by a relatively dry sum- 
mer. The prevailing winds are southerly in winter and from the 
northwest in summer, southerly winds being at all times the rain 
bringers, and in summer causing the lowest temperature. The hot 
winds are from the northeast in summer, while in winter the cold 
winds are from this quarter. Thunderstorms occur in spring and 
early summer, but rarely during the winter months. 

a Henry, A. J., Climatology of the United States: Bull. Q, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1906, pp. 
498-499. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



15 



TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL RECORDS. 



In the tables following are compiled the data obtainable on tem- 
perature and precipitation in this region: 

Average temperatures and precipitation at Silver Lake and Lakeview, Oreg.® 





Silver Lake (elevation, 
4,300 feet) . 


Lakeview (elevation, 
5,000 feet). 


Month. 


Mean tem- 
perature 
in°F. 


Mean pre- 
cipitation 
in inches. 


Mean tem- 
perature 
in°F. 


Mean pre- 
cipitation 
in inches. 




30 
29 
30 


1.2 

.8 

1.0 


30 
28 
29 


2.2 




2.4 




2.2 








30 


3.0 


29 


6.8 








36 

43 
50 


1.0 

.9 
1.2 


36 
43 
51 


1.7 




1.4 




1.7 








43 '| 3. 1 


43 


4.8 








56 
62 
62 


.8 
.6 
.2 


58 
66 
66 


1.2 


July - 


.3 




.3 






Summer 


60 1.6 


63 


1.8 




53 1 .5 


57 


.7 




45 1 1.1 49 
36 1.1 38 


.9 




2.0 






Fall 


45 | 2.7 


48 


3.6 








44 1 , 10 ' 4 
44 t ?' 10.06 


} 46 


1 17.0 




1 & 16.73 




61 

28 
/ 104 
IJuly, 1891 
f 32 

lNov.,1896 




60 
32 
f 102 
I July, 1896 
f -24 
(Jan., 1888 












I 


I 




1 
I 


1 

1 




J 


J 



a From Bull. Q, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1906, pp. 966, 969. 

b From First Bienn. Rept., Oregon State Engineer, 1905-6, PI. I. 

Rainfall record at Silver Lake, Oreg.® 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1889 






















1.48 


1.31 
Tr. 
1.46 




1890 


1.03 

.62 

.12 

1.50 


2.74 

3.08 

.91 

.75 


1.04 

.77 
2.40 
1.09 


0.34 
1.46 

.77 
.93 
















1891 


2.65 
2.52 


2.24 


1.63 








1.50 




1892 










1893 


















1894 






.82 
.30 
















1895 








1.89 


.64 


.13 


0.39 


0.18 


0.49 


2.32 






1896... 












1897 


.25 
.27 

1.40 
.80 
.08 
.24 

1.73 


.30 
.24 
Tr. 
1.69 
1.45 
.55 


.80 
.15 

2.57 
.31 
.30 
.25 

1.15 


.25 
.22 

1.02 
.53 
.10 

2.27 


1.91 
1.87 
.49 
.90 
.34 
.67 
.52 


2.65 
.76 

Tr. 
.42 
.04 

Tr. 
.72 
.54 

2.33 

1.08 


.07 
.20 
.00 
Tr. 


.00 
.05 
.40 
.45 


.39 
.20 
.37 
.49 
1.09 


.23 

.56 

1.44 

2.09 

1.31 


.13 
2.03 

.75 
.40 
.57 


1.47 
.38 

1.68 
.95 




1898 


6.99 


1899 


10.36 


1900 


7.34 


1901 




1902 






2.16 




1903 










1904 


.98 i .65 
.70 ! 1.48 

.38 2-1S 


1.60 
.05 
.64 


.00 

.00 

.78 


1.34 


.56 
.55 


.55 
.23 

.42 






1905 






1.03 
1.89 


.07 
1.68 


(?) 7.78 
11.58 


1906 


1.98 


.55 















a Station established by Signal Service October, 1889. No instrument shelter used for first few years 
Temperature record therefore considered somewhat unreliable, but rainfall thought to be good. 



16 



GEOLOGY AND WATEKS OF PART OP OREGON. 
Rainfall record at Lakevieiv, Oreg.a 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1890 












0.23 

2.97 

.67 

.07 


0.00 
.90 
.08 
.31 


Tr. 

0.15 

Tr. 

.00 


2.29 

.38 

1.51 

1.19 


0.12 

.42 

1.99 

1.59 


Tr. 
1.07 
3.78 
3.68 
.97 
1.16 
2.96 
1.78 
1.25 
2.15 


1.00 
6.38 
2.47 
1.65 
3.45 
2.25 
1.45 
1.68 
1.50 
2.43 
1.03 
2.78 
2.38 
.99 
3.27 
1.08 
3.72 




1S91 


0.49 
2.01 
1.89 
4.66 
5.15 
3.55 
1.13 
1.40 


4.95 
1.57 
2.97 
4.92 
1.02 
1.00 
2.95 
1.08 

.80 
1.71 
2.58 
3.32 
1.14 
5.45 

.73 
1.59 


2.06 
1.27 
1.74 
3.18 
2.00 
2.32 
3.13 

.10 
2.25 
1.04 

.59 
1.41 
1.93 
4.53 
2.47 
3.14 


1.09 

2.18 

2.44 

.58 

.52 

3.94 

1.03 

.05 

1.18 

1.38 

1.07 

2.28 

.48 

2.76 

.44 

.53 


3.09 
2.04 

2.24 
1.33 
2.21 

.92 
1.74 
1.10 




1892 


19 57 


1893 


17.51 


1894 




1895 


Tr. 
.10 

2.09 
.24 
.20 


.20 
.50 
.10 
.08 

Tr. 


.45 
.51 
.10 

.50 


.60 
1.17 

.86 
Tr. 

.00 


Tr. 
.60 
.36 
.95 

2.60 


14.62 


1896 


20.31 


1897 

1898 


16.13 


1899 




1900 


1.44 
3.01 

.83 
3.59 
1.41 

1.67 
4.63 




1901 

1902 : . . . 


.69 

2.22 

.53 

.27 

1.41 

1.88 


Tr. 

.10 
1.23 

.59 

.70 
1.21 


.00 
.45 
.46 
.43 
.00 
.20 


.27 
.18 
.32 
.03 
.07 
.00 


1.09 

.21 
.06 
1.10 
.50 
.82 


1.29 
1.17 

.44 
1.43 

.22 


1.73 
2.20 
4.94 
.20 
.63 
1.52 


15.10 
•16. 75 


1903 


16.11 


1904 

1905 - 


21.47 
9.92 


1906 


19.24 







a Station established by Signal Service January 1, 1884; discontinued October 13, 1888. 
as voluntary station by Signal Service June 1, 1890. 



Reestablished 



These records, besides showing the much greater precipitation at 
the southern station, indicate that at Lakeview the climate is also 
slightly warmer. Although the mean maxima and minima of tem- 
perature do not indicate as great extremes in the southern part, the 
mean seasonal temperatures show that there really is a greater 
average difference between summer and winter at Lakeview than in 
the more open Silver Lake region. The difference in these records is 
probably due more to the difference in elevation of the two observing 
stations, than to any other single factor. The station at Lakeview is 
at about 5,000 feet elevation, or 700 feet higher than that at Silver 
Lake. The former place is also at the base of a range of steep moun- 
tains, while the latter is in the open valley. 

VEGETATION. 

There are few absolutely barren areas in southern Oregon, such as 
are found in northwestern Nevada and in the Mohave and Colorado 
deserts. Nearly all of the country produces some sort of natural 
growth, though in no place is this so dense as to interfere seriously 
with travel on horseback or on foot. The mountains are rather 
openly forested with several varieties of pine and fir and with a scat- 
tering undergrowth of manzanita, buckthorn, and mountain mahog- 
any. The lack of dense underbrush has no doubt in large measure 
protected these forests from fires such as yearly burn along the western 
slopes of the Cascades. The rocky plateaus support a scanty growth 
of sage and are in some places dotted with junipers, which seem to 
grow best on the most rocky areas. The growth of pine trees at Pine 
Ridge, on the eastern side of Christmas Lake Valley, among the dead 
trunks of junipers, is a unique occurrence in this region, and seems 
closely related to the soil conditions and moisture as affected by the 
drifting sands from the valley. 



VEGETATION AND ANIMAL LIFE. 17 

In the sandy alluvial soil of the lake valleys the sage often grows to 
large size. Three species of rayless goldenrod are also found, chiefly 
in the valleys and on the borders of playas. On the more alkaline 
flats, as at Christmas Lake and Alkali Lake, the greasewood seems to 
thrive best, its young shoots being one of the earliest sources of forage 
for stock in the spring. 

Over nearly all of this area, both in the mountains and on the 
plateaus, bunch grass and rye grass grow in sufficient quantity to fur- 
nish range for thousands of head of stock, while from the marshes 
many tons of wild hay are cut every year for winter feed. 

A number of the native plants were incidentally collected during the 
study of the region, and were afterward kindly identified by Mr. Le 
Roy Abrams, assistant professor of systematic botany at Stanford 
University. Among them are a dozen species of grasses and of desert 
shrubs, the black sage (Artemisia tridentata), common juniper, rayless 
goldenrod (Bigelovia), greasewood (Sarcobatus) , lupine, and milk 
vetch or loco weed. In the lake valleys, the marsh elder, bush willow, 
and buckwheat, with other small plants, were found. On the moun- 
tain slopes, besides the forest trees of pine and tamarack, are the buck- 
thorn, manzanita, maple, cottonwood, and quaking asp, together with 
a number of shrubs and plants of the rose family, among which are the 
mountain mahogany, cherry, strawberry, and wild plum. The wild 
plum is found in abundance in several localities. The fruit ripens in 
September, when it is eagerly gathered by both the Indians and the 
settlers. 

The common horehound and alfilerilla, with one or two other Cali- 
fornia plants, were noticed along the more traveled roads and around 
sheep corrals, and have probably been introduced from the south by 
immigrants and flocks of sheep. 

ANIMAL LIFE. 

In the late seventies the last mountain sheep were seen in this region. 
Although deer and antelope have been abundant until recent years, 
the latter rarely came down into the valleys, and the deer also are now 
seen mostly in the higher country, as the lower lands are being fenced. 
The gopher, woodchuck, and hedgehog are found especially in the cul- 
tivated sections, and the coyote and rabbit in nearly all parts. 
Around the lakes ducks, geese, and various other kinds of waterfowl 
abound, while a few sage hens may be occasionally flushed on the 
plains. But several varieties of chipmunk seem to be the most com- 
mon form of wild life, both in the timbered areas and on the plains. 
The scarcity of birds and other small forms of wild life over much of 
this region is noticeable. 

48133— irr 220--08 2 



18 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

SETTLEMENTS. 

Within the county, comprising 7,834 square miles, 05 with a popula- 
tion close to 3,000, there are four towns. Lakeview, the county seat 
(PI. V), has a population of about 1,000; Paisley, 300; New Pine 
Creek, 200, and Silver Lake perhaps 100. 

Mail and stage lines, operated six times a week, connect Lakeview 
with New Pine Creek and Madeline (Cal.) to the south, Bly and Kla- 
math Falls to the west, and Paisley, Summer Lake post-office, and 
Silver Lake to the north. To the east there is service with Plush, Adel, 
and Warner Lake post-offices three times a week. Egli post-office, 
just within Harney County, has communication twice a week with 
Riley and Burns to the northeast. In the newly settled Christmas 
Lake Valley provisional post-offices have been established at Lake and 
Cliff, with weekly service to Silver Lake. 

The nearest railroads are at Madeline (narrow gage), 95 miles south 
of Lakeview; Weed (Cal.), and Pokegama (Oreg.), each about 135 
miles west of Lakeview; and Shaniko, 166 miles (according to the post- 
route map) northward from Silver Lake. The latter place indeed 
claims to be farther from a railroad than any other post-office in the 
United States. A railway route has recently been surveyed through 
Christmas Lake Valley, however, and it is hoped that work will 
soon be begun on the line and that Silver Lake will not hold this 
unique distinction very much longer. 

Except near Lakeview the county roads do not receive much care, 
and in consequence travel over those least used is slow. 

The freight rate between Shaniko and Silver Lake, by teams, is 1J 
cents a pound; so that prices of all heavy or bulky supplies that 
have to be shipped in, especially grain, flour, and potatoes, are high. 

Telephone lines connect the settlements with the railway points, 
and several cooperative lines connect most of the isolated ranches. 
Quick communication maj^ thus be had throughout much of the 
county. In other matters, too, the people are progressive. Lakeview 
has a water system supplied by springs in the mountains above the 
town, and both it and New Pine Creek have electric lights, while sev- 
eral buildings in Silver Lake are also furnished with electric light from 
the plant of Mr. F. M. Chrisman, which uses power generated by a dis- 
tillate engine. 

INDUSTRIES. 
GRAZING. 

On account of the presence of natural forage grasses and the unfit- 
ness of much of the country for any other purpose stock raising has 
become the chief industry. Horses and cattle roam in great numbers 

a Gannett, Henry, The forests of Oregon: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 4, 1902, p. 25. 



INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS. 19 

over the plateaus or "high desert/' and are owned chiefly by the inter- 
ests that control the hay ranches of the marsh lands. The scarcity of 
water in summer limits the range of cattle during that period to the 
mountains or, on the desert, to the vicinity of water holes. They are 
usually rounded up for feeding on the marshes during the severe 
weather of the early spring months. Horses, being able to travel 
more rapidly, can range farther from water than cattle, and often 
become so wild that it is almost impossible to collect them for brand- 
ing or for market. It is said that a band now roams the lava beds in 
the northern part of the county, and that determined efforts for sev- 
eral years have failed to capture them, because of their wildness and 
the rough character of the lava surface. 

Sheep also constitute an important factor in the county's wealth. 
During the summer months the flocks are kept in the mountains, where 
water can be obtained, and are not brought down into the valleys until 
November or December, when sufficient snow has fallen to furnish 
water during the winter. 

AGRICULTURE. 

Comparatively little farming has yet been done, although most of 
the fruits and vegetables consumed in the county are raised along the 
eastern side of Goose Lake and the western shore of Summer Lake. 
Apples and potatoes are the staples, but the farms near New Pine 
Creek are also noted for their melons. Nearly all garden vegetables 
can be obtained during the summer and early fall months, in spite of 
the fact that frosts are likely to kill the more tender plants. It is the 
general opinion that more extensive cultivation is lessening the ten- 
dency to early frosts, and it is claimed that vegetables, such as toma- 
toes, can now be grown in several places in the county where formerly 
they could not. 

A number of small dairies, sufficient to supply the local demand for 
milk and butter, are established in Summer Lake and Goose Lake val- 
leys, but little or none of their products are shipped out. 

At Paisley and on the western side of Summer Lake, where water 
for irrigation is obtained, there are several alfalfa fields, and in these 
localities a few fields of barley and rye are also grown. 

LUMBERING. 

Three or four small sawmills supply the local demand for lumber, 
the price at the mill being about $12 a thousand feet board measure. 
Yellow pine furnishes nearly all the timber, and also supplies fuel for 
heating and other purposes, as there is no coal in the region. Gannett a 
estimates the stand of merchantable timber in Lake County as 

a Gannett, Henry, The forests of Oregon: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 4, 1902, p. 10. 



20 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON". 

3, 106,000 feet board measure, all of which is yellow pine, the average 
stand to the acre being 3,000 feet. 

MINING. 

Near New Pine Creek there has recently been some gold-mining 
excitement, but in a district a little south of the State boundary. The 
only prospects worthy of mention within Lake County are those of the 
Coyote Hills, in what is known as the Lost Cabin gold mining district. 
This district was brought to the notice of mining men in August, 1906, 
by the Loftus brothers. The value and extent of the deposits have 
not yet been proved. Such values as have been found are in oxidized 
ores in andesitic breccias, a mass of these more acid rocks beneath the 
basalts that are so generally distributed over Lake County forming the 
boss exposed in the Coyote Hills. 

The alkaline flat at the southeast end of Summer Lake has been 
located for soda, and a part of Alkali Lake as borax claims, but no 
development work has been done in either locality. 

A small quantity of saltpeter (nitrate of potash) of high quality has 
been found on the northwestern side of Wagontire Mountain, but the 
character and extent of the deposit are not known. 

HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Some historical notes on the county have been assembled in a "His- 
tory of Central Oregon," a and the following extracts may not be out of 
place here: 

As early as 1838 a form of government was exercised by the Meth- 
odist Missions in "Oregon," and two years later a petition for a civil 
government was sent to Congress by the people settled on Puget 
Sound and in the tide-water region of Columbia River. In 1838 Col. 
J. J. Abert prepared a map showing Warner Lake and other natural 
features of the eastern country, from data procured by trappers and 
explorers of the Hudson Bay Company, but Col. John C. Fremont 
seems to have been the first to cross the area now Lake County, and to 
bring out a clear account of the region. He left The Dalles in Novem- 
ber, 1843, on the return trip of his exploring expedition, traveling 
southward to Klamath Marsh, then eastward across Sycan Marsh. 
Here the explorers were overtaken by a heavy snowstorm, and when 
they suddenly came to the edge of the cliff overlooking Summer Lake 
and saw the valley below green and inviting they bestowed the name 
of Winter Ridge on the bluff and its present name on the lake at the 
foot of the bluff. After traveling past Chewaucan Marsh and Lake 
Abert, which Fremont named after Col. J. J. Abert, chief of the Corps 
of Topographical Engineers, under whose instructions he was working, 

a An illustrated history of Central Oregon, compiled by F. A. Shaver, Arthur P. Rose, and R. F. 
Steek. Western Hist. Pub. Co., Spokane, Wash., 1905. 



CHARACTER AND AGE OP ROCKS. 21 

they reached Warner Valley on December 23, and spent Christmas 
day on the edge of the lake, which they called Christmas Lake. 
Thence they traveled southward to Pyramid Lake and into California. 

Nearly six years later, in 1849, Capt. William H. Warner, United 
States topographical engineer, explored the country north and east of 
Goose Lake for an emigrant trail from Sacramento, and was killed by 
Indians in the valley now bearing his name. It was not until the 
early sixties that the country was again penetrated by whites, when 
the discovery of gold in the John Day and Powder River regions led to 
the establishment of the military post of Fort Klamath along the 
route of travel from California and Nevada to the new mines. There 
was also a line of travel between Steins and Warner mountains, lead- 
ing later to the establishment of Fort Warner. So, although without a 
settler, Lake County was traversed by a number of parties during 
these years. 

In 1868, when as a result of General Crook's campaign the Shoshone 
Indian war ended, immigration began. In 1872 a weekly mail route 
was established between Ashland, Oreg., and Lake City, Cal., with a 
post-office at New Pine Creek. Four years later a post-office was 
established at Lakeview. . In 1874-75 a post-office was established 
on the western side of Silver Lake, the town of Silver Lake not being- 
founded until 1886. There were several settlers at Paisley in 1871, and 
seven years later a store was opened at that place. The county of 
Lake was formed in 1874. At first it included the present Klamath 
County, but did not contain Warner Valley, and it did not receive its 
present boundaries until 1886. 

GEOLOGY. 

CHARACTER AND AGE OF ROCKS. 

In studying the geology of the region — the kinds of rocks and their 
structure — all of the consolidated materials that were seen are vol- 
canic effusives and related volcanic muds, or tuffs. These rocks 
belong to several lithologic classes and to more than one geologic 
period, but by far the most extensive series is that of the basaltic 
flows. These cover nearly all of Lake County and extend eastward 
beyond Steins Mountain and northward beyond the John Day region, 
where fossils that have been collected from interbedded sedimentaries 
determine the age of the flows as Miocene. 

No such fossil-bearing beds were found in the Lake County area, 
and the effusive material was not traced in detail to the place where 
such beds are exposed. But the material is so similar in lithologic 
character, in the amount of deformation it has undergone, and in its 
general relation to the Cascade Range to the west that there is little 



22 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

hesitation in placing it in the same general series with the widely 
extended and well-known Miocene lavas of Washington and northern- 
central Oregon. Although these Miocene basaltic lavas cover nearly 
all of the region examined with the exception of the lake valleys, 
there are sufficiently large areas of lavas of other types to warrant a 
preliminary separation into three groups — older acidic effusives, older 
basaltic effusives, and recent eruptive material. These are tenta- 
tively mapped, with their approximate areas, so far as these could be 
determined in a rapid reconnaissance, on PL VI (in pocket). 

CLASSES OF ROCKS. 
OLDER ACIDIC EFFUSIVES. 

The rocks of several mountain masses in this region differ enough 
from the more common basalts, both in the nature of the topography 
to which they give rise and in their petrologic character, to warrant 
us in considering them as belonging to an earlier period of more 
acidic effusion, when the lavas poured out were andesites, rhyolites, 
and related obsidians. They are perhaps of early Tertiary or pre- 
Tertiary age. In the succeeding effusions the materials were either 
basaltic or tuffaceous. 

The Coyote Hills and Rabbit Hills masses are placed in the older 
class because they are composed largely of a light-colored glassy or 
porphyritic rock that seems to have been disturbed and eroded before 
being surrounded by the basaltic flows. These lavas are much more 
acid than the surrounding basalt, and they are regarded tentatively 
as rhyolites, andesites, and trachytes. In three other places — near 
Lakeview, near the head of Chewaucan River, and between Silver 
and Summer lakes — similar rocks were found. Slides of these were 
examined by E. S. Larsen, jr., and identified as andesite. 

Gray Butte, Big Juniper Mountain, and Horning Bend are com- 
posed of light-colored rocks that appear also to have been disturbed 
and eroded before the outpouring of the later basalts. They are 
rhyolitic in character. 

The general form of Wagontire Mountain and its relation to the 
basalts that dip westward away from it suggest that it also may 
have been produced by an earlier, possibly local effusion, uplifted 
since the outpouring of the basalt flood. On its westward side a 
glassy andesite was found, but the rocks of the eastern portion are 
more crystalline in texture and apparently more basic. 

The black obsidian of the Glass Buttes, to the northwest, and of 
Horse Mountain, to the southwest, is probably related to the Wagon- 
tire Mountain mass. 



CLASSES OP ROCKS. 23 

OLDER BASALTIC EFFUSIVES. 

Basalts. — The basalt of the main flows over the surface of the 
country is for the most part a dark-gray, fine-grained, rather vesicular 
rock, weathering on the more level areas into brown rounded cobbles 
and bowlders that make a very uneven surface, difficult to travel 
over. 

On the higher peaks the more resistant types of this rock contain 
much iron and strongly affect the compass needle. Very little soil 
has formed over these high desert areas. Approximately parallel 
partings, usually at intervals of only a few feet, mark the division 
between successive flows, but in some places much thicker beds are 
exposed. Fissures nearly perpendicular to the parting planes break 
the basalt into blocks, which by transverse fracturing are reduced to 
smaller and smaller fragments, forming the characteristic talus slopes 
of the cliffs. 

Tuffs. — In several places over the northern and western parts of 
the county there are remnants of a great tuff aceous flow or series of 
flows. This tuff underlies the upper flows of the basalt, but probably 
belongs to the same general period of effusion. Fort Rock (PL VII, A) , 
an isolated mass in the northwestern part of Christmas Lake Valley, 
is the most prominent of these remnants. It is imperfectly crescent 
shaped, nearly one-third of a mile across, and rises in its highest part 
325 feet above the valley floor, with perpendicular cliffs 200 feet above 
its talus slopes. The tuff of which it is composed is a tawny, rather 
firmly cemented material, consisting of fragments of effusive rocks 
and volcanic cinder. This material is largely used in the western part 
of the county for building purposes, being soft when first quarried 
and easily cut into blocks that harden on exposure, and as it is used 
especially for chimneys it is locally known as "chimney rock." 

A thick tuff bed also exists in the mountains south of Paisley and 
is well exposed in the Chewaucan River canyon a short distance above 
the town. This tuff, which is colored various shades of red and blue, 
has been mineralized to some extent by quartz and calcite. Toward 
its southern end considerable prospecting for gold has been done, 
and good values are reported to have been found in some places. 
The remains of an old arrastre, half a mile below these workings show 
that for a number of years the locality has been prospected for the 
precious metal. 

Interbedded with the basalts are thinner layers of tuff, or volcanic 
mud and ash. These are usually rather, fine grained, white or red in 
color, and contain fragments of basaltic rocks. Where exposed along 
cliffs these tuff beds thin out, as if lenticular in shape, and in some 
instances serve to accentuate any unevenness in the associated basalt 
beds. 



24 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

These tuffs also exhibit interesting contact phenomena, as at North 
Alkali Valley, where a white tuff bed about 4 feet thick is exposed for 
several miles in the cliff along the eastern side of the valley. The 
contact with the underlying basalt is sharp and exhibits no alteration. 
From this line upward the color changes evenly through brown to 
black at the upper contact, where the tuff has been melted to a beady 
glass by the heat of the succeeding flow. This overlying rock is 
lighter colored and less dense than the usual basalt, and covers much 
of the area surrounding Alkali Lake basin, but it probably belongs to 
the same period of effusion as the more close-textured basalt to the 
south, into which it seems to grade. 

RECENT ERUPTIVE MATERIAL. 

In the northern part of the county is an area covered by sheets of 
lava and small volcanic cones or craters that represent a very recent 
period of volcanic eruption. Black vesicular basaltic rock consti- 
tutes the main part of the flow, while the cones are built up of slaglike 
fragments of scoria and volcanic bombs. This material clearly was 
ejected at a period much later than that of the great Miocene flows. 
It is probably Pleistocene in age. 

VALLEY FILLINGS. 

The loose Pleistocene filling of the valleys and the alluvial material 
brought down by streams may be considered as a fourth class of sur- 
face material in this region. 

Lake deposits. — No marine beds were seen, but some lake deposits 
should be mentioned here. Along the hills east of Summer Lake, and 
fully 150 feet above its present level, there are beds aggregating 25 
feet or more in thickness. These are composed of basaltic pebbles and 
shells of fresh-water mollusks, cemented into a conglomerate by lime 
carbonate. 

Many of the stones around the borders of the lake basins are coated 
with a hard, white deposit of lime, in many cases half an inch thick. 
One mass of this material 10 or 15 feet in diameter, observed on the 
western edge of Summer Lake, is probably a tufa deposit of lime car- 
bonate, such as Russell found so common along the shores of the 
ancient Lake Lahontan, in Nevada and California. 

In all of the lake valleys there are deposits of silts, sands, and clays 
that form the floor of the valley and usually bury any coarser material 
that may be in the basin. Remains of Pleistocene mammals fix the 
age of these deposits at Fossil Lake, in Christmas Lake Valley, where 
somewhat extensive collections have been made by representatives of 
the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1904 by a party from the Univer- 
sity of California. 



STRUCTURAL FEATURES. 25 

Alluvium. — Some alluvium is to be found where the several streams 
debouch into the open valleys, but in few places is the area thus cov- 
ered of great extent. Probably at the mouth of the Chewaucan 
River canyon there is the largest area of this stream-deposited mate- 
rial. Here the gravel-covered terraces at Paisley have clearly been 
built by the river, probably as a delta in the former lake, and the 
low divide between Summer Lake and Chewaucan Marsh is largely 
if not entirely formed of river wash. 

Honey Creek, in Warner Valley, has also brought down and depos- 
ited on the valley edge a large amount of gravel. 

Landslides and the slower weathering action that produces talus 
have also brought down much loose material from all the cliffs and 
steep slopes, but the areas covered by such material are not large. 

Although in comparison with the great rocky basaltic areas these 
loose materials are geologically of minor importance, it is from them 
that practically all of the limited quantity of ground water now used 
is obtained. Hence from the view point of the present water resources 
in the region this fourth class of unconsolidated material is perhaps 
the most important. The cultivable land is also limited to these 
areas of lake and stream deposits, so that the possible agricultural 
portions of the county — neglecting alkaline conditions, which will be 
discussed in detail later — are shown on the geological map (PI. VI) 
by the colors that represent these deposits. 

STRUCTURE. 
FAULTS. 

Probably in but few other places in the world is the geologic struc- 
ture so well exhibited in the present land forms as it is in southeastern 
Oregon. Here the main features of relief are a direct result of defor- 
mation of the rocks. This deformation has resulted in faults, which 
are the main structural features, as their expressions in scarps are the 
main topographic features. 

In most of the Great Basin region the typical Basin Range structure, 
produced by the faulting and tilting of long, narrow orographic blocks, 
is largely obscured by erosion or by earlier complex structures. But 
in Lake County erosion has acted very little on these great blocks, 
and little or no deformation preceded the faulting, so that the typical 
structure is evident in the present conformation of the surface. The 
geologic cross section (see PI. X) through Chewaucan Marsh, Lake 
Abert, and Warner Valley well exhibits this characteristic tilted block 
structure, and in PI. VIII, reproduced from Russell's " Reconnais- 
sance," the block between the marsh and Lake Abert is seen to be of 
this origin. 



a Russell, I. C, Geological reconnaissance in southern Oregon: Fourth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey, 1884. 



26 GEOLOGY AND WATEES OF PAET OF OKEGON. 

In a general way the southern country is more broken by faults 
than the northern. This fact is not as evident from the map (PI. II) 
accompanying this report as it would be were more of the region to 
the east and north shown ; still, it will be noticed that in the northern 
part of the area mapped prominent scarps are not in evidence, while 
they are in the southern portion. 

FOLDS. 

Besides these tilted blocks there are low folds in the bedded lavas. 
In the production of these, however, the rock itself has been bent little 
if any. The very slight opening and closing of the multitude of 
approximately vertical fractures in the beds has been sufficient to 
allow the low folds to be formed. In Lake County, the other struc- 
tural features seem closely related to a great upward fold or anticline 
of this character, which has been extensively faulted in places; and 
the structure of the region has been tentatively worked out on this 
assumption, as follows : 

The axis of this major anticline extends from Silver Lake southward 
through Goose Lake Valley, approximately along the straight line 
A-A', PI. VI. At its southern end the monoclinal slope at the western 
side of Goose Lake Valley and the steep slope at its eastern side sug- 
gest that here the anticline has broken down and that Goose Lake 
Valley lies, as it were, on the dropped keystone of an arch. (See sec- 
tion, PL X.) To the north dips in the beds indicate that Chewaucan 
River has cut its channel along the axis of the fold for a number of 
miles. Through Summer Lake Valley it appears that the anticline 
has again broken down, its western side remaining in place to form 
Winter Ridge, while the eastern is buried beneath the lake deposits. 
White Rock, a tufTaceous exposure in the bluff at the northwest side 
of the valley, seems closely to mark the northern point of this break- 
ing down, for northward from it a very evident plunging anticline 
forms the slopes to Silver Lake. In the hills north of this lake the fold 
does not show. 

The near parallelism of Elder Creek with the axis A-A' is also to 
be noted, and in a broader way the approximate parallelism of 
Chewaucan Marsh. 

One of the areas examined in which the folds are irregular and 
complex in a minor way is that at the northern end of Summer Lake 
Valley. As indicated on the geologic map (PL VI), the dips of the 
beds on each side of Sheep Lick Draw show that a smaller fold, whose 
axis is B-B', exists here, which dies out toward the crest of the divide 
between Christmas Lake and Summer Lake valleys. This divide 
has the character of a cross anticline whose axis is C-C, and these 
three upward folds, together with the synclinal fold up whose trough 



PHYSIOGRAPHIC HISTORY. 27 

the county road between Summer Lake and Silver Lake passes, have 
produced a peculiarly warped surface. 

In the southeastern part of the area studied the plateau between 
Goose Lake and Warner Lake valleys has the character of a wide, 
low syncline, while the dips on each side of southern Warner Valley 
indicate that, like Goose Lake Valley, it has been formed by the 
faulting of an anticline, as shown in the section through south War- 
ner Valley (PI. X) . At its northern end the dips indicate more purely 
monoclinal faulting, as shown in the section through Chewaucan 
Marsh (PL X). 

Over all of the northeastern part of the county the beds lie approx- 
imately horizontal, indicating, as before stated, that there has been 
less deformation in that region. Even at a short distance from the 
base of Wagontire Mountain the surface beds are nearly level. 

There are many minor scarps, especially in the broken country 
northeast of Summer Lake and at the south end of Silver Lake. 
These, however, do not seem to be of fault origin, but are apparently 
weathering rather than structural features. 

As in the topography the scarps were shown to be the main feat- 
ures, so the faults producing these scarps and their associated 
undrained basins are again emphasized as being the chief structural 
features. In this respect the low folds are treated as of secondary 
importance; for although, as tentatively shown, the structure has 
been determined largely by a great anticline which has collapsed in 
places, the most striking features along this fold are the results of 
faulting. 

PHYSIOGRAPHY. 
EARLY HISTORY. 

In attempting to trace the development of the present topographic 
features of Lake County and vicinity it must first be considered at 
the period immediately following the outpouring of the great basaltic 
lava floods of Miocene time. Only the very scantiest and most frag- 
mental evidence exists for deciphering the history of the region before 
this period, but data for unraveling the later evolution of the land 
forms are much more abundant. 

At the close of the great lava outflow Lake County and the adja- 
cent regions north and east probably formed one widely extended 
plateau, above which projected, like islands in the basaltic inunda- 
tion, only isolated peaks of the former surface, such as Big Juniper 
and Little Juniper mountains, Gray Butte, and the Coyote Hills. 
There could have been little topographic diversity in the entire 
region, for the prominences mentioned were but minor elevations, 
widely scattered, and rising but little above the general broad levels. 



28 GEOLOGY AND WATEES OF PART OF OREGON. 

Drainage could not have been definite or well developed; indeed, 
if precipitation was as light then as it is at present, there were prob- 
ably few streams in existence. 

DEFORMATION. 

Some time after this broad constructional plateau came into exist- 
ence, at a time which can not be fixed definitely on the basis of any 
evidence gathered within Lake County, but which, to judge from 
similar events whose history has been more closely traced farther to 
the north and to the south, was in the Pliocene epoch, earth move- 
ments began that resulted eventually in the uplifting of the Cascade 
Range in the north and of the Sierras in the south. Although the 
locus of these movements, or the line of their greatest intensity, lay 
well to the west of the area under discussion, this area was itself 
markedly affected by them. The movements, whose axis of greatest 
intensity coincided roughly with the present crest of the Cascade 
Range, exhibited as they passed eastward a constantly diminishing 
intensity, so that here, while great mountain ranges did not come 
into existence as one of their products, the old plateau, which had 
existed before the disturbance, was extensively modified. This mod- 
ification in various parts of the piedmont area at the eastern base of 
the Cascades took the form in some localities of low folds and result- 
ing ridges, in others of faults of limited throw with a resulting appro- 
priate topography, and in still others of a combination of faults and 
folds. Whatever form the movement took, it produced a marked 
change in the preexisting land forms. 

In Lake County faulting seems to have been the dominant expres- 
sion of this movement, although folding also took place. The great 
scarps which are so characteristic of the region and which limit practi- 
cally all of its major depressions on one or the other side date from this 
period and are themselves due directly to the breaking of the lava 
beds, their broken edges now constituting the scarps in question. 

The preexisting plateau was broken by these movements into a 
series of irregular blocks, some of which were dropped bodily and 
are limited by faults on either side, while others are tilted to the 
east or the west, giving structures that, since the work of Gilbert and 
Russell, have come to be known as Basin Range structures. In 
other parts of the area, especially farther north, where the move- 
ments seem to have been less intense or less definitely localized, 
broad ridges were raised without fracturing. Such a ridge is that 
which extends north of east from the vicinity of Squaw Peak through 
St. Patricks Mountain. This ridge separates Silver and Summer 
lakes, where it is clearly anticlinal in character, but eastward from 
this area it gradually dies out or becomes less definite as a structural 
feature. 



PHYSIOGKAPHIC HISTORY. 29 

PRESERVATION OF DEFORMATIONAL FEATURES. 

The topographic forms that resulted from this series of general 
crustal movements seem to have been preserved with comparatively 
little modification to the present day, and from this fact it appears 
that, though the region is one of light rainfall, so that the usual ero- 
sional forces operate with comparatively slight intensity, the move- 
ment must have been relatively recent. For had these forms existed 
for any extended time, even under desert conditions of minimum pre- 
cipitation and minimum stream development, they would have been 
considerably modified. The greater scarps, like those which limit on 
the east the valleys in which lie Goose, Abert, and Alkali lakes, are 
comparatively unmodified. This is equally true of the scarps that 
confine the Warner Lakes on the east and of the somewhat less pro- 
nounced scarps that limit them on the west. Winter Ridge, to the 
west of Summer Lake, although it has been slightly modified by land- 
slides since it came into existence, exhibits substantially its original 
form. The greatest evidence of the action of erosion or disintegration 
is found in a few localities like that at the south end of Silver Lake. 
Here exists a valley whose extension is occupied by Silver Lake, and 
scarps have been formed limiting this valley on both the east and the 
west that can not be accounted for as fault features, because Silver 
Lake and its valley seem to occupy the axis of an unbroken anticline. 
Rocks along its crest were presumably weakened and therefore easily 
subject to attack by disintegrating agents, and perhaps on this account 
these agents have been most effective here- 
Over large areas in the northern part of the county, areas that are 
now known generally as the "high desert," the effect of the crustal 
movement that elsewhere produced the scarps and the valleys that 
accompany them seems to have been merely to warp slightly the 
original constructional plateau, so that it is now a high, rolling, irreg- 
ular plain, changed scarcely at all from its original condition. Simi- 
larly the surfaces of some of the blocks whose edges form the conspic- 
uous scarps — surfaces like that of the great ridge that separates Abert 
Lake and Warner Lake valleys — exhibit little change, other than the 
tilting they have suffered, from the original surface of the plateau 
from which they are derived. It is probable, indeed, that portions 
of these surfaces coincide with the surface that existed before deforma- 
tion had affected the region at all. The faulting and folding, in other 
words, have deformed the surfaces as well as the rocks, and these 
deformed surfaces are the present topographic features of Lake and 
adjacent counties. 

EROSIONAL MODIFICATIONS. 

Where streams like Chewaucan River drain higher ridges in the 
western portion of the county — ridges that because of their great 



30 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

height have a greater rainfall and consequently a greater run-off — 
gorges due to erosion have been formed, and other modifications of the 
original deformational surface are found. These modifications are 
usually greatest where the rocks were made more vulnerable to attack 
by erosional agents through weakening along fault lines or upturning 
along folds. At such places sharp canyons have developed that fol- 
low strike lines closely and have been cut out along weak zones in the 
disturbed rocks. But except near the western edge of the county, 
where these favoring conditions of high rainfall, sharp relief, and weak- 
ened rocks have combined to yield limited areas of topographic forms 
that are erosional instead of constructional, the surface of the county 
is almost exclusively dependent upon constructional forces. 

LAKES. 

Present lakes. — As an immediate result of the movements by which 
the ridges with their limiting escarpments and the valleys that lie at 
the bases of these escarpments were formed, the lakes that dot the 
surface of the county and give it its name came into existence at the 
lowest points of the deformed surface, from the accumulation there 
of such slight run-off as the meager rainfall of the region furnished. 
Each constructional basin has its own drainage, and the drainage 
accumulates at the lowest point within the basin. If it is more than 
sufficient to satisfy evaporation, a lake exists in the depression; if 
evaporation is as effective in removing the water as rainfall is in sup- 
plying it, playas or intermittent lakes, like Alkali Lake, result. 

Quaternary lakes. — During Quaternary time the basins of Lake 
County contained much greater bodies of water than at present. 
These have left evidences of their former extent in the terraces or 
ancient shore lines cut in the surrounding hills, in the lake deposits, 
and, as at Paisley, in the formation of deltas rather than of alluvial 
fans opposite canyon mouths. At Willow Ranch, south of New Pine 
Creek, shells of fresh-water mollusks are said to be found 150 feet 
above the present lake surface. On the eastern side of Summer Lake 
Valley similar shells are found, and faint terraces along Chewaucan 
Marsh show that Lake Abert, the marsh, and Summer Lake were once 
continuous. According to Russell, a the water once stood 260 feet 
deep over the marsh and 300 feet deep in Summer Lake Valley. 
Silver Lake and Christmas Lake valleys once formed a wide, contin- 
uous, rather shallow expanse of water; but the present small bodies 
are not to be considered as remnants of this former lake. 

The most distinct terraces in the region are to be found in the hills 
surrounding the Alkali Lake basin. Several deeply cut notches in 
these hills show successive stages of the lake level, the highest being 

a Russell, I. C, A geological reconnaissance in southern Oregon: Fourth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. 
Survey, 18S4, p. 459. 



SURFACE WATER SUPPLY. 31 

275 feet above the present flat. The approximate extent of these 
Quaternary lakes is indicated by the areas of alluvium shown on 
PL VI. 

HYD RO GEAPHY. 

STREAMS. 

From the nature of the topography of this region, the area draining 
into each lake basin is rather limited, and the amount and character 
of the discharge depend almost wholly on local precipitation. 

ABERT LAKE DRAINAGE. 

Chewaucan River and its branches above Paisley form the largest 
drainage system in the county, with an area of about 272 square 
miles. Nearly all of this is in the higher, timbered region, where 
conditions are favorable for heavier precipitation and for the con- 
servation of the rainfall and snowfall, hence the stream flows in good 
volume throughout the year. Near Paisley its canyon opens rather 
abruptly into the lake valley, and after flowing beyond its former 
delta deposit the water, except where carried off through drainage 
canals, sinks in Chewaucan Marsh. At the lower end of the marsh 
the water again rises, and after dropping over a low basaltic ledge 
empties into Lake Abert. 

Several other smaller streams east of the upper portion of the 
Chewaucan basin carry northward much water from the mountains 
and join Chewaucan River before it reaches Lake Abert. Moss^ 
Coyote, and Crooked creeks are the largest of these. Moss Creek, 
with from 30 to 40 miner's inches summer flow, drains only a small 
area, but its source in springs in the timbered mountains insures 
it a fairly reliable discharge. Near its entrance into the lower 
Chewaucan Valley part of the water is diverted to irrigate alfalfa 
and vegetables. . Coyote Creek flows through a small open valley 
in the portion of its course between the mountain slopes and the 
gorge that carries it toward Lake Abert, but during the late summer 
a great part of its water sinks before reaching Chewaucan River. 
Crooked Creek in its course through its upper valley has cut a chan- 
nel in the alluvial filling 20 feet or more deep, with vertical banks, 
and in its lower stretches it is confined in a narrow canyon until it 
reaches the more open valley a few miles south of Lake Abert. It 
unites with Chewaucan River just before the latter enters the lake. 

SILVER LAKE DRAINAGE. 

The drainage basin of Silver Creek is also mostly a timbered area, 
the stream being fed mainly by waters from the slopes south and 
southwest of Hager Mountain. Together with Bridge Creek and 



32 GEOLOGY AND WATEES OF PART OF OREGON. 

Bear Creek (locally known also as Buck Creek), two streams that 
drain the slopes farther to the west, it supplies Silver Lake. Like 
Chewaucan River, these streams sink in Pauline Marsh, and through 
it the water reaches Silver Lake. 

SPRAGUE RIVER DRAINAGE. 

The western edge of the county is drained either by Sprague River 
and its branches directly or through Sycan Marsh into this stream, 
whose waters finally discharge into Klamath Lake. This area is also 
mountainous and wooded, but drains westward, away from the 
region with which this paper is concerned. 

GOOSE LAKE DRAINAGE. 

A number of small streams flow into Goose Lake, the chief of these 
in Oregon being Drews and Cottonwood creeks. These have their 
sources in the wooded slopes of the northwestern side of the valley, 
but their waters generally sink in the lowlands before reaching the 
lake. Bullard Creek, near Lakeview, and Kelly Creek, near the town 
of New Pine Creek, are but small mountain streams, while in Cali- 
fornia a number of similar small intermittent streams carry the 
run-off from the sides of the narrow basin to the lake. A very low 
divide separates the south end of the lake from the north fork of 
Pit River, into which it has been known to overflow. The present 
lake surface is about 190 square miles in area, about 60 square miles 
of which is in Oregon. 

SUMMER LAKE BASIN. 

Summer Lake, about 70 square miles in area, is largely independent 
of local run-off for its supply, for Ana River, its principal feeder, has 
its source in at least five large springs that rise in the sediments at the 
north end of the valley. The total flow of these springs is very 
constant, being, as measured by Mr. I. Landes, of the Reclamation 
Service, 148 to 150 second-feet, or 7,400 to 7,500 California miner's 
inches of 9 gallons a minute. Even during the dry season of 1887-8 
it is said not to have decreased noticeably. Buckhorn and Johnson 
creeks have like sources in the sediments of the north end of the 
valley, but their waters sink before reaching the lake. Along the 
western side of the valley numerous streams rising in the slopes 
above flow into the lake, but the total discharge of the sixteen that 
were flowing measurably in September, 1906, was only 250 to 300 
miner's inches, or about 4 per cent of that of Ana River. 

WARNER VALLEY STREAMS. 

Into Warner Valley only three streams of any consequence flow. 
Honey Creek enters the valley at its western edge, near Plush; War- 
ner Creek also enters from the west, at Adel, while Twelvemile Creek 



SURFACE WATER SUPPLY. 



33 



flows into the south end of the valley at Warner Lake post-office. 
These are perennial streams, but they have only a small discharge, 
hardly sufficient to balance evaporation from the lake, which is now 
broken into several detached water bodies. 

NORTHERN DESERT AREA. 

In Christmas Lake Valley there are no perennial streams. Peter 
Creek, in the northern arm of this valley, is the nearest approach to a 
living stream, but even in the spring it often flows no farther south 
than its sink. Lost Creek is the largest stream in the northeastern 
part of the area visited, having a discharge of 10 to 15 inches in the 
fall of 1906. Northward it flows only to a playa near the base of 
North Glass Butte. 

Three or four ranches have been taken up along the eastern side of 
Wagontire Mountain, where springs issue. Of these springs the 
largest is that at Antone Egli's, the water of which is used for irrigat- 
ing alfalfa. Its flow in November, 1906, was 8 or 9 miner's inches. 
As this water has the highest electrical resistance of all of those 
tested, a sample of it was taken for analysis, the result of which is 
given on page 72 (sample B). The total solid content of only about 
10 parts in 100,000, or 5.84 grains to the gallon, shows it to be a 
very pure water. 

DISCHARGE MEASUREMENTS. 

During the last two years gaging stations have been kept by the 
United States Geological Survey on several of the streams of the 
county, the estimated discharges of which are given below. 

Estimated monthly discharge of Chewaucan River at Paisley, a Oreg., in 1905 and 1906. 





1905.6. 190G.C 


Month. 


Discharge in second-feet. 


Total in 
acre-feet. 


Discharge in second-feet. 


Total in 




Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Mean. 


Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Mean. 


acre-feet 


January 

February 

March 

April 


332 

111 

223 

318 

290 

318 

64 

23 

36 

36 

36 

223 


53 
23 
64 
131 
198 
53 
23 
19 
19 
23 
23 
23 


94.1 
64.6 
136.0 
230.0 
238.0 
154.0 
33.2 
19.5 
23.5 
28.5 
29.7 
70.8 


5,786 
3,588 
8,362 
13,690 
14, 630 
9,164 
2,041 
1,199 
1,398 
1,752 
1,767 
4,353 


Ill 
111 
739 
837 
1,000 
649 
234 
37 
68 
46 
68 
81 


46 

46 

68 

211 

387 

259 

37 

29 

29 

29 

37 

23 


65.9 
62.6 
173.0 
563.0 
670.0 
415.0 
110.0 
30.5 
37.9 
37.3 
47.8 
52.1 


4,050 

3,480 
10, 600 
33, 500 
41,200 




24, 700 
6,760 
1,870 
2,260 
2,290 
2,840 
3,200 


July 


August 

September... 
October ..... 
November . . . 
December. . . . 


The year d _ 


332 19 , 93.5 

1 1 


67,730 1,000 i 23 


189 


136, 750 



a Gaging station established January 4, 1905. I. Landes, hydrographer. 

b Report of Progress of Stream Measurements for 1905. Water-Supply Paper No. 176, U. S. Geol. 
Survey, p. 135. 

c From unpublished records of United States Geological Survey furnished by J. C. Stevens, district 
hydrographer, Portland, Oreg. 

d Ice gorge January 10-31; discharge, assumed 77 second-feet. Ice conditions for remainder of winter 
months not known; open channel rating table applied. 

48133— ibb 220— OS 3 



34 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OE OREGON. 

Estimated monthly discharge of Silver Creek near Silver Lake, a Oreg., in 1905 and 1906. 



Month. 


1905.6 


1906. c 


Discharge in second-feet. 


Total in 
acre-feet. 


Discharge in second-feet. 


Total in 




Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Mean. 


Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Mean. 


acre-feet. 


January 

February 

March 

April 


70 
137 
155 
203 
87 
39 
21 
19 
19 
21 
42 
36 


24 
21 
54 
46 
27 
21 
13 
15 
15 
15 
13 
13 


36.8 
43.9 
73.9 
89.9 
47.2 
27.8 
16.7 
17.1 
15.4 
15.7 
21.4 
21.6 


2,263 

2,438 
4,544 
5,349 
2,902 
1,654 
1,027 
1,051 
916 
965 
1,273 
1,328 


50 

78 

212 

530 

246 

106 

86 

15 

15 

13 

26 

31 


80 

7 

10 

57 

43 

21 

12 

12 

12 

12 

5 

5 


24.1 
27.6 
40.4 

320 

118 
45.7 
31.3 
12.5 
12.9 
12.0 
12.7 
13.5 


1,480 
1,530 
2,480 
19, 000 
7,260 




2,720 


July 


1,920 


August 

September. . . 

October 

November . . . 
December 


769 
VG8 
738 
756 
830 


The year d . 


203 


13 


35.6 


25, 710 


530 


5 


55.7 


40,251 



a Station established December 29, 1904. I. Landes, hydrographer. 

b From Water-Supply Paper No. 176, U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 129. 

c From unpublished records of United States Geological Survey, furnished by J. C. Stevens, district 
hydrographer, Portland, Oreg. 

d Ice is known to form at this station during winter months, but the observer failed to note the length 
of time that ice conditions existed during 1905. The open channel rating table was applied to the winter 
months without correction. 

Estimated monthly discharge of Bridge Creek near Silver Lake, a Oreg., in 1905 and 1906. 





1905. b 


Month. 


1906. c 


Month. 


Discharge in second- 
feet. 


Total in 
acre-feet. 


Discharge in second- 
feet. 


Total in 




Maxi- 
mum. 


Mini- 
mum. 


Mean. 


Maxi- 
mum. 


Mini- 
mum. 


Mean. 


acre-feet. 


January 21-31 . . 
February 1-19, 
24-28 


8.1 

10.0 

2.8 

6.6 

12.9 

15.2 

3.0 

.8 

.7 

.9 

1.5 

1.3 


2.0 

1.2 
1.2 
.8 
1.3 
3.0 
.6 
.2 
.6 
.6 
.7 
.2 


4.55 

4.33 
2.23 
2.53 
7.79 

2. 18 
.46 
.66 
.73 
.95 

1.00 


99 

206 

137 

151 

479 

631 

26 

23 

39 

45 

57 

61 


January 

February 


21 
21 
14 
23 
29 
22 
25 


11 
11 
4 

7 
14 
15 

6 


16.6 
17.1 
10.4 
10.5 
21.1 
18.7 


1,020 
950 
640 






625 






1,300 






1,110 




July 1-21 




July 1-6 

August 7-31 

September 

October 

November 

December d 







a. Station established January 21, 1905. I. Landes, hydrographer. 
b From Water-Supply Paper No. 176, U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 131. 

c From unpublished records of United States Geological Survey, furnished by J. C. Stevens, district 
hydrographer, Portland, Oreg. 
d Ice conditions December 17-31; discharge estimated, 1.3 second-feet. 



Discharge measurements of Bear Creek near Silver Lake, a Oreg., in 1905.b 



January 24 14. 4 

February 23 c 23. 6 

March 17 d 11. 7 

May 31 « 50.0 

June 15 46.0 



August 7 / 6. 3 

October 4 5. 

October 24 6. 4 

November 11 6. 8 



a Station established January 21, 1905, at County Bridge. I. Landes, hydrographer. Results for 
1906 unsatisfactory, and station discontinued. 

b From Water-Supply Paper No. 176, U. S. Geol. Survey ,Jp. 131. 

c 500 feet below bridge. 
. d 400 feet below bridge. 

« 100 feet above bridge. 

/ 300 feet below bridge. 



SURFACE WATER SUPPLY, 



35 



Approximate annual discharge of the several streams of Lake County, Or eg., in 1905 and 

1906. 



Stream. 



Chewaucan River 

Silver Creek 

Bridge CTeek 

Bear Creek 

Crooked Creek... 

Coyote Creek 

Moss Creek 



Approxi- 
mate area of 
drainage 
basin in 
square miles. 



272 
221 
45 
62 
95 
47 
10 



Discharge 
for year in 
acre-feel. 



a67,730 
a 25, 710 
b 2, 100 
6 12, 600 
c 12, COO 
c2,000 
c 1,500 



Run-off in 
inches 

(to nearest 
tenth) . 



4.7 
2.2 



3.8 
2.4 



1906. 



Discharge 
for year in 
acre-feet. 



a 136, 750 
a 40, 251 
b 6, 650 
c 18, 500 
c 17, 750 
c3,300 
c 2, 200 



Run-off in 
inches 

(to nearest 
tenth) . 



9.4 
3.4 
2.8 
5.6 
3.5 
1.3 
2.6 



a From measurements of United States Geological Survey. 

b By interpolation in the incomplete records of the United States Geological Survey. 

c Estimated by comparison with discharges of Silver and Bridge creeks. 

CHARACTER OF DISCHARGE. 

In the monthly stream-discharge tables a fact worthy of mention 
may be noted. The time of greatest discharge of Chewaucan River 
is during April and May, its maximum being reached in the latter 
month. Silver Creek, being smaller and draining less mountainous 
country, would be expected to reach its maximum flow somewhat 
earlier, as it does, in April. But Bridge Creek, with a drainage 
basin of only 45 square miles, does not reach its highest period until 
May or June. This is probably to be accounted for by the fact that 
its supply comes chiefly from the north slope of Yamsay Mountain, 
where melting of the snow is slower than on the eastern slopes 
drained by Silver Creek. 

Another peculiarity, not explainable from the data at hand, con- 
cerning Bridge Creek is that, although judging from the records 
kept at Lakeview and Silverlake the precipitation was only about 
50 per cent more in 1906 than in 1905, the total discharge of this 
stream, as shown by the figures of approximate discharge given above, 
was more than three times as great, so that the ratio of run-off to 
precipitation within its basin about doubled. For the other streams 
the discharge during 1906 was, like the precipitation, roughly 50 
per cent greater than that of 1905, so that the run-off ratio remained 
about the same during these two years. 



RUN-OFF RATIOS. 

Much study has been given to the relation of rainfall to run-off, and 
attempts have been made to deduce formulas for determining their 
ratios in different regions. So many complex conditions influence the 
run-off, such as amount, intensity, and distribution of rainfall, nature 
of soil, slope of surface, area and configuration of basin, as well as 



36 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

geologic structure, forest, wind, etc., that the ratio can be stated only 
in a very general way." 

Newell b gives general curves showing the ratio, and they indicate 
that for a region like southern Oregon, in which the precipitation in the 
higher drainage basins is probably from 15 to 20 inches, the run-off is 
usually between 3 and 5 inches. 

The amount of run-off deduced in the table on page 35 from the 
estimates of approximate discharge departs from these figures in several 
cases, but in those records that are considered the most reliable the 
run-off agrees fairly well with this general ratio of one-fifth to one- 
fourth. 

Since no records of precipitation have been kept on the higher areas, 
the apparent departures from this ratio may fairly be assumed to be 
due, in part at least, to uneven distribution of the snowfall within the 
several drainage basins. 

EFFECT OF FORESTS. 

Because rainfall is most abundant in forested regions many believe 
that forests exert an influence favorable to precipitation. While they 
may have an appreciable cooling effect on the air, aiding to reduce the 
temperature below the dew point and thus to produce rain, the evi- 
dence on this matter is so conflicting that definite conclusions can not 
yet be reached. It seems more reasonable, however, to believe 
that abundant rainfall is the great factor in controlling the distribu- 
tion and density of forests, rather than that the forests cause greater 
rainfall. 

Although the relation of forests to rainfall and run-off is a complex 
problem, into which enter the factors of climate, topography, geo- 
graphy, and geology, there is no doubt whatever that the forests store 
a part of the rainfall in their spongy soil and loam, whence it enters the 
streams gradually rather than suddenly, and that they protect the 
accumulations of snow from rapid melting and evaporation; there- 
fore the preservation of the forests is of vital importance. 

A large part of the precipitation on all areas is returned to the air by 
evaporation. From the tree crowns immediately after a storm this 
return is, of course, very rapid, but the amount thus evaporated is only 
a small fraction of the total precipitation. From the forest-covered 
soil evaporation is comparatively slow, because the soil is protected 
from sun and wind, and the amount of moisture absorbed by a forest 
to supply the plant needs is probably less than that needed by the 
average agricultural crop. The total quantity annually returned to 

a Rafter, George W., Relation of rainfall to run-off: Water-Supply Paper No. 80, U. S. Geol. Survey, 
1903, p. 9. 

>> Newell, F. II., Results of stream measurements: Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 
4, 1894, p. 151. 



SURFACE WATER SUPPLY. 37 

the atmosphere from a forest by transpiration through the stems and 
leaves and by evaporation from the trunks and from the soil has been 
estimated at 75 per cent of the precipitation, while for fields of cereals 
and grasses it may be even more, in regions where from a bare field the 
evaporation may be only 30 per cent of the precipitation. But the 
amount of moisture annually evaporated from forest-covered soils and 
transpired by the trees themselves is only about half as great as that 
from open fields having a moderate covering of herbage. 6 

On the other hand, in regions of scanty rainfall, where a short wet 
season is followed by a long dry one, evaporation from the forest soil 
may go on slowly throughout nearly the whole year, while in the open, 
during a great part of the year, there is very little moisture to be evap- 
orated and therefore little loss by transpiration from the scanty herb- 
age, so that in such a case the forest-covered soil may lose more mois- 
ture by evaporation and transpiration than the open field. The 
spongy forest soil also, by retaining a large part of the scanty rainfall, 
lessens the stream flow from such an area. This is notably the case in 
many parts of the arid West. 

The greatest collateral usefulness of a forest, however, lies in its 
power to regulate the run-off and to maintain a more equable flow of 
the streams. This it does by decreasing the surface run-off of flood 
waters and by increasing the seepage run-off from the saturated soil, 
which is the water that sustains stream flow. This is of far greater 
benefit than would be the extra water carried off by streams to the 
valleys below if the slopes were cleared. Indeed, usually the greater 
run-off of cleared areas is in the form of violent and destructive floods. 
A regulated flow, even though the total discharge may be less than the 
sum of a succession of floods, is vastly more beneficial, for "It is the 
amount of water that passes into the soil, not the amount of rainfall, 
that makes a region garden or desert." c 

Minor but important effects of forests are protection from wind ero- 
sion as well as'from erosion by water, prevention of snow slides in some 
localities, moderation of extremes of temperature, and, perhaps, dis- 
tribution, if not increase, of precipitation. 

LAKES. 
CHANGES IN SURFACE LEVEL. 

On account of the shallowness of the water bodies of Lake County 
the water level of the lakes can fall but little without destroy- 
ing them. Such occasional dryings up have no doubt occurred within 
recent times. The best-known instance is that of Silver Lake. In 

a Fernow, B. E., Economics of Forestry, New York, T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1902, p. 438. 
b Ibid, p. 437. 

c Toumey, James W., The relation of forests to stream flow: Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agriculture for 
1903, p. 288. 



38 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

1879 Cope found Thorn Lake dry and Silver Lake low, but Russell 
states that during the following three years the surface of Silver Lake 
rose 6 feet and in 1882 was confluent with that of Thorn Lake. As 
has been stated, in 1888-89 Silver Lake completely dried up, which 
required a change in level during these six or seven years of at least 10 
feet, for Russell stated that in June, 1882, when confluent with Thorn 
Lake, it was only 10 feet deep. In 1890 it again began to fill, and dur- 
ing the fall of 1906 the gage board established by the Reclamation 
Service indicated about 13 feet, but it was not learned whether this 
was supposed to be the depth of the lake. 

It is claimed that Thorn Lake is supplied only by precipitation and 
occasional overflow from Silver Lake. As such overflow does not take 
place every year, evaporation would more than counterbalance these 
two sources of supply, and it therefore seems probable that it is fed 
by springs beneath its surface, like those at Christmas and Fossil 
lakes. The effect of the dry season of 1887-88 on all of the lakes 
would be useful for comparison, but it is not known; it was only 
learned through hearsay that Summer Lake shrank little, if at all. 

Noted changes in the level of Summer Lake are not recorded, but 
from the nature of the alkaline wastes along its eastern side it would 
appear that it is slowly shrinking. 

The northern end of the Abert Lake basin is so nearly level that it is 
said that a strong south wind often forces the water back nearly 2 
miles over the alkaline flat; so it seems very probable that seasonal 
changes shift the northern margin considerably. 

Goose Lake experiences differences in its level, but fluctuates more 
slowly than the smaller lakes. The story that in the early sixties an 
emigrant trail crossed its valley at a place where the water is now sev- 
eral feet deep indicates that the lake was then smaller than at present, 
but a few years later it rose so as to extend several miles farther north 
than it now extends, and for a short time (in 1869) it overflowed south- 
ward down Pit River. Since then it has shrunk, and is apparently 
still growing smaller. 

The litigation in Warner Valley strongly emphasizes the fact that 
this lake has been shrinking since 1860, but at what rate can not be 
said, as there are no recorded observations and seasonal differences 
obscure the slower general change. 

The Alkali Lake drainage basin has an area of about 300 square 
miles, but it is all desert; no perennial streams exist in it, and conse- 
quently the depression, except for a few pools, is dry during a large 
part of the year. 

ANNUAL SURFACE INFLOW. 

With the meager discharge measurements given on pages 33-34 as 
a basis, the mean annual flow into each of the lakes has been estimated 
as well as may be, and comparison of inflow with drainage area and 



SURFACE WATER SUPPLY, 39 

lake surface has led to some interesting conclusions. The areas of the 
drainage basins and of the lake surfaces can be obtained approximately 
from the map (PL II). Aside from the discharge tables given, data 
for estimating the inflow to the several lakes are lacking; but by 
comparing the observed width, depth, and velocity of other streams 
with the measured ones, a rough estimate of the stream discharge 
into each basin has been made and the following tables have been 
prepared. 

The average rainfall records of 16.73 to 17 inches at Lake view 
and 10.06 to 10.4 inches at Silver Lake given on pages 15-16, are for 
periods of twenty-two years at Lakeview and thirteen years at Silver 
Lake; and it has been estimated* that averages based on such lengths 
of time may differ from the final average by only about 3 per cent and 
5 per cent respectively. 

The stream-gaging record for 1905 is that for a year of 9.92 inches 
precipitation at Lakeview and 7.78 (?) inches at Silver Lake, or only 
about two-thirds of the average; but for 1906 the precipitation was 
19.24 inches at Lakeview and 11.58 inches at Silver Lake, figures not 
greatly exceeding the average. So for the purpose of estimating the 
flow into each lake, the observed and estimated discharge records for 
1906 have been used, since they are probably as close to the average 
as can be approximated. 

From the average precipitation records an annual total of 14 inches 
upon the open surface of Goose Lake has been thought reasonable, 
while 12 inches has been assumed as the average annual precipitation 
upon the surfaces of the lower lakes — Summer, Silver, and Abert. 

All of the following estimates are necessarily very general, being- 
based on general data; still, for the facts they are meant to indicate, 
it is thought that the figures given are sufficiently accurate. 

The annual surface flow into the several lakes was computed from 
the following estimated stream discharges, which were based on the 
character and size of the drainage areas of the several streams, as com- 
pared with the streams whose discharges have been measured. 

Annual discharge of streams flowing into Goose Lake. 

Acre-feet. 

Cottonwood Creek 6, 000 

Drews Creek 18, 000 

Dry Creek 1, 000 

Stream in Warner Canyon '. 2, 000 

Bullard Creek 1, 000 

Kelly Creek 2, 000 

Sixteen streams in California with aggregate drainage area of about 
250 square miles (taken from Alturas sheet of U. S. Topographic 
Atlas) . 30, 000 

60, 000 

a Rafter, George W., Relation of rainfall to run-off: Water-Supply Paper No. 80, U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey, 1903. p. 18. 



40 



GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PAET OF OREGON. 



Annual discharge of streams flowing into Abert Lake. 

Acre-feet. 

Chewaucan River (measurement) 136, 750 

Crooked Creek 17, 750 

Coyote Creek 3, 300 

Moss Creek 2, 200 



160, 000 
Annual discharge of streams flowing into Summer Lake. 

Acre-feet. 

Ana River (150 sec. -ft., measurement) 109, 500 

Johnson Creek (20 sec. -ft.) 14, 600 

Total of other streams (10 sec. -ft.), partial measurement 7, 300 



131, 400 
Annual discharge of streams flowing into Silver Lake. 

Acre-feet. 

Silver Creek (measurement) 40, 250 

Bridge Creek (partial measurement) 6, 650 

Bear Creek (partial measurement) 18, 500 



65, 400 



As before stated, the annual precipitation on the surface of Goose 
Lake was taken as 14 inches; on the surface of the other lakes, 12 
inches. 

EVAPORATION RATES. 

In the following table it is shown that the ratios of the area of each 
lake surface to its drainage basin differ greatly, and that the annual 
increment, expressed in feet of water on its surface, is also apparently 
very different for the several lakes. On the assumption that evapora- 
tion balances the inflow, the increment also represents the annual 
evaporation rate. 

Areas of lakes and lake basins, and annual surface supply. 



Lake. 


Area of 
lake sur- 
face in 
square 
miles, o 


Area of 
drainage 
basin (in- 
cluding 
lake) in 
square 
miles .a 


Ratio of 
lake sur- 
face to en- 
tire drain- 
age basin. 


Annual sur- 
face inflow 
plus direct 
precipitation 
into lake, in 
acre-feet. 


Annual incre- 
ment expressed 
as feet in depth 

over the lake 
surface fi 


Goose 


190 
GO 
70 
15 


1,065 
900 
550 
500 


0.18G) 

• 07(A) 

• 13Q) 

• 03( 3 ' 5 ) 


f 60, 000 
142, 000 


\ 1.66 




{ 202, 000 


J 


Abert 


1 160, 000 
1 38, 400 


1 5.17 




I 198, 400 


1 




f 131, 400 

1 44, 800 


1 3.94 




1 176, 200 


J 




f 65, 400 
1 9, 600 


I 7.81 




I 75, 000 


1 



a Taken from map by measurement with planimeter. 

6 Inflowplus direct precipitation (in acre-feet), divided by area of lake, in acres. 



EVAPORATION RATES. 41 

Evaporation experiments covering a period of five years at Fort 
Douglas, Utah, determined the yearly evaporation there as being 
42.46 inches. As computed by the Signal Service, the rate at that 
place is 74.4 inches." 

From a series of observations upon the rate of lowering of the 
level of Crater Lake, and from experiments to determine the rate 
of evaporation from its surface, Diller b concluded that, allowing for 
escape by seepage, the average rate was about 53 inches annually, 
the surface reaching its highest level early in May and its lowest 
turning point about the 1st of October. Gannett some years earlier 
placed the rate of evaporation from this lake at 40 to 50 inches. 
Crater Lake is in nearly the same latitude as the water bodies of 
Lake County, but is 1,600 to 1,900 feet higher, and by virtue of the 
lower temperature of the surrounding air and because of its pro- 
tecting walls, presumably is not subject to so rapid evaporation. 
Recent evaporation experiments at Keno, near Klamath Lake, 
Oregon, indicate an evaporation rate of about 40 inches annually at 
that place. c 

Other evaporation data for comparison are very meager, but it 
seems that from the water bodies of Lake County the rate is probably 
somewhat greater than from Crater Lake, or than at Keno, which is 
more closely surrounded by forested mountains than are the water 
bodies of Lake County. 

In estimating the increment to the four lakes considered, and 
hence the approximate annual evaporation from their surfaces, no 
account could be taken of escape by percolation or leakage from 
their basins, for there was nothing to indicate the amount thus lost, 
if any at all; neither could an estimate be made of the amount evap- 
orated from the marshes. Leakage may perhaps account in part 
for the large apparent increment of 7.8 feet to so small a water sur- 
face as that of Silver Lake, and also for the fact that this lake dried 
up so quickly after the dry season of 1887-88. Evaporation from 
Pauline Marsh also no doubt materially lessens the apparent incre- 
ment to this lake, a part of the stream discharge being evaporated 
before reaching the lake. 

From Chewaucan Marsh there is also probably much evaporation, 
so that Lake Abert does not receive so great an increment as is 
credited to it. 

Summer Lake, with the great springs of Ana River pouring into 
it ; has an apparent increment of about 4 feet. The existence of the 

a Newell, F. H., Results of stream measurements: Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S- Geol. Survey, 1894,, 
p. 154. The results of experiments at Fort Bliss, Tex., given with those of Fort Douglas, are not quoted 
Here, as they are for a region of higher mean temperature than that of southeastern Oregon. 

&Dille-r, J". S., and Patton, H. B., Geology and petrography of Crater Lake National Park: Prof. 
Paper No. 3, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902, p. Gl. 

c Clapp, W. B., and Hoyt, J. C, Progress of stream measurements for 1905: Water-Supply Paper 
No. 177, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, p. 242. 



42 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PAET OF OREGON. 

great springs feeding it renders very plausible the theory that other 
springs than those known discharge into this basin. The marshy 
nature of Thousand Spring Valley, however, indicates that this con- 
cealed supply may be by seepage over a considerable area, rather 
than by concentrated flowing springs. This assumption is strength- 
ened by the fact that, according to notes of the Reclamation Service, 
on August 17, 1904, the discharge of Ana River near its source was 
only 155 second-feet, while near its mouth the discharge Was 179 
second-feet, indicating the accession to it of seepage waters or waters 
from other springs. 

Rate of evaporation is a subject comparatively little studied as 
yet; results of experiments are meager, and the methods employed 
are unsatisfactory. Observations on the rate from pans or from 
inclosed basins usually give figures too large. It seems, however, 
that the rate from the water bodies of Lake County is probably 
greater than that observed at Keno — about 40 inches, and possibly 
more than 53 inches, the rate given by Diller for Crater Lake; but 
in the following discussion the conservative estimate of 40 inches 
will be taken. 

SUBSURFACE INFLOW TO GOOSE LAKE. 

Goose Lake, it will be noticed from the table on page 40, occupies 
one-fifth of its entire drainage basin. A glance at the index map 
(PI. I), on which the limits of the several lake basins under discussion 
are shown by dotted lines, will emphasize the disproportionate area 
of Goose Lake with respect to its drainage basin, as compared with 
the other lakes. Its estimated supply or increment is only 1.66 feet 
(19.92 inches) annually, and the consequent evaporation rate is 
seemingly a little less than one-half of that assumed, which is almost 
certainly not the case. Neither leakage from the basin nor evapora- 
tion from the marsh land near Lakeview can be assumed to account 
for this discrepancy, for the problem is one involving not an exces- 
sive loss but a greater inflow than is in evidence. 

It is recognized that the estimate of the surface inflow to Goose 
Lake may be 100 per cent or more in error, but even if the inflow is 
twice as great as has. been assumed it will not materially affect the 
result, giving an apparent increment (and evaporation rate) of only 
2.15 feet (25.8 inches) a year, for the surface inflow from the tributary 
streams is so much less than the direct precipitation on the lake sur- 
face that doubling the former does not greatly change the amount 
chargeable to evaporation. 

The best explanation left to account for the discrepancy seems to 
be that the lake has a great constant source of supply beneath its 
surface. The several hot springs along the eastern side of its valley 
render it not improbable that other waters rise along the fault zone 



UNDERGROUND WATERS. 43 

that is believed, to exist here and supply the needful extra inflow. 
With an annual increment of 2.15 feet, which assumes twice the 
inflow from surface streams that was considered in the table on 
page 39, a supply from subsurface springs of about 144,000 acre-feet 
annually, or nearly 200 second-feet, is necessary to admit of an 
evaporation rate of 40 inches. 

If the computed inflow from the tributary streams, 1.66 feet, 
be taken as a basis, and an evaporation rate of 4 feet be assumed 
(which seems reasonable from the more open nature of the Goose 
Lake basin as compared with conditions at Keno), the necessary 
supply becomes nearly twice as great. Even the smaller of these 
estimates is a larger amount than the discharge of Ana River and 
may seem a great deal to be supplied by springs beneath the surface 
of the lake; but the Ana River springs would flow nearly the same if 
Summer Lake extended northward so as to submerge them, and they 
probably did flow even stronger than they do now when the lake 
occupied its entire basin. 

Fall River, 70 miles southwest of the lower end of Goose Lake, 
has its source in springs discharging 1,500 second-feet, or ten times 
the flow of Ana River. a 

In the above discussion of the water bodies the most interesting 
thing brought out is this apparent great subsurface supply of Goose 
Lake. While the reasoning is admittedly based on little concrete data, 
the weakest point, that of the amount of its surface inflow, is shown 
to be really a minor factor in the computation, and hence the deduc- 
tions are considered worthy of presentation. 

HYDROLOGY. 

GENERAL STATEMENT. 

As distinguished from hydrography, which deals with the streams 
and their flow, the hydrology, or underground waterSj of the county 
will now be discussed. 

Waters that exist beneath the surface of the earth may in general 
be separated into two classes — those that are found in unconsolidated 
material, relatively near the surface, and those that circulate within 
consolidated rocks, generally at greater depths. Between the typical 
examples of each there are many differences, but in less well differen- 
tiated cases there may be no good lines of distinction, so that some 
subsurface waters might well be placed under either head. 

aHoyt, J. C, and Clapp, W. B., Progress of stream measurements for 1905: Water-Supply Paper 
No. 177, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, p. 133. 



44 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON", 

SHALLOW WATER, 
UNCONSOLIDATED DEPOSITS. 

That usually considered as ground water is found at moderate 
depths below the surface, in the gravels, sands, and silts of stream 
valleys, the alluvial material at mountain bases, or the accumulated 
sediments of lake valleys. In many regions, also, the decay of the 
country rock to a residual soil results in a loose porous layer that 
catches and holds a part of the rainfall and furnishes a supply of 
water for shallow wells. 

Thickness and processes of formation. — The depth of loose material, 
either transported or produced in place by disintegration, depends on 
the climate, the character of the rock, and other factors, as well as 
on the surface features of the land. In humid climates, where vege- 
tation is rank, rapid decay of the rocks takes place, this decay being 
aided by the organic acids formed in decomposing vegetal matter, 
by the abundant water that carries them downward, and by the dis- 
integrating gases, like oxygen, that the water often contains. J. W. 
Spencer a states that in the region about Atlanta, Ga., the rocks are 
"completely rotted" to a depth of 95 feet, while "incipient decay" 
may reach to 300 feet; and it is estimated that in some parts of 
Brazil such agencies have caused the decay of granite to a depth of 
1,000 feet or more. 

In arid regions, where conditions are less favorable to rock decay 
through the action of chemical agents, rock removal and the result- 
ing accumulation of debris are largely physical processes. Rapid 
changes of temperature break up the rock masses, because of the 
unequal expansion of the minerals of which they are composed, while 
the winds and the occasional torrential rains carry the disintegrated 
material to the lower areas, where it accumulates as talus, alluvium, 
loess, or lacustrine deposits. In addition to its function as a trans- 
porting agent, wind also acts powerfully in certain localities as an 
agent of erosion. The strong wind, laden with particles of dust and 
sand, becomes an effective natural sand blast and wears away ex- 
posed rock surfaces with great rapidity, and the fine particles thus 
removed accumulate as a part of the mass of loose material in the 
lowlands. 

Ground-water level. — Where the soil has accumulated to sufficient 
thickness as a result of any or all of these processes, direct precipita- 
tion and the inflow from streams keep it saturated below a certain 
level, except in the most arid districts. This ground-water level is 
not fixed, but varies with the seasons and with the supply. Its sur- 
face has a very definite relation to the land surface, which it resembles 
in a general way, but it does not rise so high in the hills and often does 

a Geol. Survey Georgia, 1893, p. 82. 



UNDERGROUND WATERS. 45 

not sink so deep in the valleys. Where the land surface intersects 
the surface of the ground water, as in deep valleys or gorges, springs 
issue, and as the ground-water level varies with the season these 
springs fluctuate, drying up when the level of their supply falls below 
the bottom of the valley and increasing their flow when the ground- 
water level rises. It is upon such water, saturating at least the lower 
portions of accumulations of loose material, that nearly all shallow 
wells depend. 

In south-central Oregon the processes of soil formation have made 
but little progress. On the forested mountains the underlying rock 
is nearly eve^where in evidence, being covered in most places with 
only a foot or two of soil. All of the plateaus are rocky, with scarcely 
enough soil covering to give foothold to the scanty growth of sage. 
In the valleys, however, there is a fairly deep mantle of soil, an accu- 
mulation due chiefly to the contributions of small streams and to 
material brought by the winds from the higher plateaus. In these 
sands and silts is found all of the ground water that has thus far been 
developed in Lake County. 

In many localities no definite data were to be had from which to 
estimate the thickness of such accumulations in the several valleys, 
but it is thought that in Silver Lake and Christmas Lake valleys it 
may reach a maximum of between 100 and 200 feet, while in some of 
the other basins it may be two or three times this depth. 

ARTESIAN CONDITIONS IN LAKE AND STREAM DEPOSITS. 

Water under sufficient pressure to bring it to the surface when 
properly tapped is sometimes found in old lake valleys. Streams 
flowing down from the surrounding slopes brought to the ancient 
lake alluvial material, which was assorted by the action of the lake 
water, the coarser being deposited first along the borders, while the 
finer was held longer in suspension. This assorting action of the 
water, causing deposition first of the sand and gravel along the 
margin and later of the finer sediments over these, resulted in the 
formation of wedgelike layers of sand and gravel, thinning out toward 
the center of the lake and alternating with layers of fine silts. The 
drying up of such a lake may leave a fertile valley, underlain by in- 
terbedded coarse and fine material, the coarser, thicker, looser beds 
being exposed in places along the edge of the valley, while the finer 
materials serve to confine percolating water to them. Thus storage 
reservoirs in lacustrine material are formed that will supply flowing- 
wells sunk in the lower parts of the valley. The north end of the 
Colorado Desert, in southern California, is such a valley. Flowing- 
water is obtained in it, chiefly from sand and gravel that underlies 
the surface at a depth of 450 to 1,000 feet. 



46 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PAET OF OREGON. 

In southern California many of the streams are dry or nearly so 
during the greater part of the year, but each storm swells them to 
torrents that carry down quantities of material from the mountain 
slopes to the valleys, where it is dropped. A large share of the water 
also sinks in the lower slopes. This work of intermittent torrential 
streams has built up at the mouths of the canyons alluvial cones, 
which farther out in the valleys have merged together. Coarse and 
fine materials have thus become interbedded, and wedge-shaped 
masses of gravels extend into the lowlands. These are in some places 
underlain and overlain by finer, less pervious materials, and their 
bases extend far enough up the valley sides to give enough pressure 
to the water to bring it to the surface when wells are bored. It is 
from such a source that the artesian water of parts of southern Cali- 
fornia and of San Joaquin Valley is obtained. 

DEEPER WATER. 
CONDITIONS OF OCCURRENCE. 

As distinguished from the water in the looser, unconsolidated mate- 
rial, there is water that circulates in the porous strata of the under- 
lying rock masses. Typically the shallow water is limited downward 
by the upper surface of the bed rock upon which the sand and gravel 
in which it circulates are deposited, while the deeper water is to be 
found in this bed rock. Its occurrence here and the possibilities of 
its utilization for irrigation or other purposes depend upon several 
factors, among which the porosity of the rock is one of the most 
important. Sandstones, on account of their greater porosity, are the 
rocks in which deep water is most often found, but it may be found 
in any porous rock if the other requisite conditions are fulfilled. 

STRUCTURES. 

The structure or attitude of the rocks is also of very great impor- 
tance, for upon this depend the circulation of the water, the pressure 
under which it may be stored, and its accessibility beneath any given 
area. 

In regions of impervious beds alternating with porous layers that 
are suitably exposed, so as to allow the absorption of a part of the 
rainfall and snowfall, the structures most favorable to the existence 
of water under pressure are synciines and monoclines — that is, rocks 
bent into trough-shaped or saucer-shaped folds or given a general 
dip in one direction. 

The syncline is the ideal structure for flowing wells. The water 
that enters the porous beds exposed along the edges of a given basin 
percolates downward toward the lowest portion of the basin, and, 
collecting there under the pressure of the water higher up in the 
porous strata, rises toward the surface when tapped. 



UNDERGROUND WATERS. 47 

Faults, or fractures of the rocks, are unfavorable to the collection 
of water, because the fault planes that break the water-bearing beds 
furnish it an easy means of escape. 

Monoclines that are limited by faults — i. e., tilted blocks — are there- 
fore not favorable structures for deep-water storage; but monoclines 
that are not broken, but pass into horizontal structure, or whose indi- 
vidual beds thin out down the dip, often yield flowing wells. a 

As has been shown under the heading " Geology," Lake County is 
underlain by igneous rocks, a condition that at first thought seems 
fatal to the existence of available deep waters, for igneous rocks are 
usually compact and in irregular masses, allowing little opportunity 
for the storage of water or for its orderly circulation, so that it may 
be developed for economic uses. But the most extensive masses of 
these Lake County rocks are basalts, which spread out in widely 
extended sheets over the surface, so that their distribution is much 
like that of stratified rocks. Accompanying the basalt flows were 
volumes of fragmental volcanic material. This was also distributed 
as thin sheets or lenticular masses by streams and by deposition in 
lakes, and now appears as tuff beds associated with the basalts. 
This material is in many places more "porous than a sandstone, and 
where other requisite^ conditions exist may serve efficiently as a 
water-bearing stratum. The vesicular basalt is itself sometimes re- 
garded as being capable of storing water, but its vesicles are only 
isolated voids in an otherwise compact rock, not connected passages 
as in a porous material, and hence circulation of water is practically 
impossible in them. 

In the great scarp that forms the eastern face of Steins Mountains, 
Russell 6 estimated that there are from 80 to 100 layers of coarse 
"sandstone" interbedded with the basalts; and in the many scarps 
of Lake County there are layers of light-colored porous material be- 
tween the individual lava flows, although they are less numerous and 
less extensive than in the beds farther east. 

Thus far no deep borings have been made in Lake County to deter- 
mine whether these porous beds, in which alone rock water in valu- 
able quantities may be expected, exist beneath the surface, and only 
by such tests can their presence or absence be proved. It is believed, 
however, that the probabilities are strong enough to justify the drill- 
ing of test wells in a few localities. 

In other parts of this great lava area, especially in southern Wash- 
ington, artesian water is obtained from sediments associated with 
the basalt, and it may also underlie portions of Lake County. 

a For further discussion of artesian basins see Water-Supply Papers No. 54, pp. 101-104; No. 78, pp. 
10-14: No. 118, pp. 61-67; and Bull. No. 319. 

b Russell, I. C, Artesian basins in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon: Water-Supply 
Paper No. 78, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1903, p. 19. 



48 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

In the Harney Basin, 130 miles east of Silver Lake, are the two 
following wells, which prove the existence of water under pressure 
beneath that valley, but for lack of proper care and casing these wells 
do not flow now. In 1893 a well was sunk to a depth of 848 feet about 
6 miles southeast of Burns. Water was struck at 350 feet, which rose 
to the surface and overflowed, and at 840 fee't another water-bearing 
bed was tapped; but in 1902 attempts to improve this well caused 
the flow to cease. In 1896 a 507-foot well was drilled near Harney, 
which at a depth between 200 and 300 feet struck water that rose to 
the surface, but the well was not cased and soon stopped flowing. a 

In discussing the several valleys of Lake County the structural con- 
ditions in each will be considered in some detail and the evidence in 
regard to the probability of securing flowing artesian water will be 
given. 

TEMPERATURES. 

In the study of underground waters the temperature offers inter- 
esting and often most suggestive evidence. It has been determined 
by observations in deep wells and mine shafts throughout the world 
that below the surface layer, about 50 feet in thickness, which is 
affected by daily and seasonal changes, the temperature increases at 
a rate of 1° F. for each 50 or 60 feet in depth. So that when wells 
or springs yield warm waters and it seems likely that their tempera- 
tures are not due to exceptional conditions, like proximity to masses 
of rock heated by volcanic activity, or to a zone of faulting, an esti- 
mate may be made of the depth from which they rise. This can not 
be safely applied to waters that rise along fault zones, because the 
enormous friction accompanying the faulting produces high tempera- 
tures in the adjacent rocks and abnormally heats waters that rise in 
their vicinity. 

In this respect 70° F. is sometimes taken as the temperature above 
which natural waters are classed as hot, 6 while between this figure 
and the mean annual temperature of the region they are classed as 
warm. Those springs whose waters are of about the mean tempera- 
ture, or in winter below it, are classed as cold. This classification is a 
convenience only and can not be rigidly applied, because as will be at 
once realized, the same temperature that is called warm in northern 
latitudes might be classed as cool in equatorial regions, and, indeed, 
there are places whose mean temperature is above that of the so-called 
hot waters. 

a Russell, I. C, Artesian basins in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon: Water-Supply 
Paper No. 78, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1903, pp. 40-41. 

&Peale, A. C, Natural mineral waters of the United States: Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. 
Survey, pt. 2, 1S94, p. 68. 



GEOLOGY AND WATEKS OF PART OF OEEGON. 49 

THE LAKE VALLEYS. 
WARNER VALLEY. 

Warner Valley is a long, narrow depression that extends from north 
to south in the eastern part of Lake County, and continues into Cali- 
fornia as Surprise Valley. Its northern portion is only 6 or 8 miles 
wide, and is bounded on each side by the steep walls that have been 
described under the headings of "Topography" and "Structure" 
(pp. 9, 25.) 

In the valley bottom there is a string of partially connected alka- 
line lakes about which are marsh areas that represent for the most 
part lands from which the waters of the lakes, which are slowly 
shrinking, have but recently withdrawn. There is both geologic and 
historical evidence of this shrinkage of the lakes, which are now but 
remnants of the water body that covered the floor of the whole valley 
during Quaternary time. Faint beach lines of this former lake are 
still to be seen in a few places along the sides of the valley, while the 
litigation mentioned on page 12 is a result of minor changes in level 
that have taken place within the last half century. 

There are but few settlers in the valley, and the agricultural develop- 
ment is limited to small gardens and alfalfa patches and to the har- 
vesting of wild hay from the marsh land as winter feed for cattle and 
sheep. 

Three streams — Warner, Honey, and Twelvemile creeks — flow into 
the valley from the west or southwest. . From each of these a part of 
the water is diverted for irrigation, but as the supply is small the area 
thus watered is inconsiderable. These creeks bring down a certain 
amount of debris and deposit it at the edge of the valley. Honey 
Creek especially has thus built up a large alluvial fan where it 
debouches into the lower lands, but the greater part of this material 
was probably deposited as a delta in the former lake, and this delta is 
now being rapidly dissected. 

Little or no attempt has been made to develop the shallow ground 
water for irrigation. Water in apparent abundance is obtained in 
wells only a few feet in depth, but it is used only for domestic pur- 
poses and for stock. It is possible that rather deep wells sunk at the 
outer edges of the alluvial fans of the streams mentioned above would 
yield flowing water if properly cased, but this would be only in the 
lower lands, where water for irrigation is of least value. The widest 
area of cultivable land is in the northern part of the valley, where 
there are no perennial streams and the region is dry and covered with 
sagebrush. As elsewhere in the valley, water exists within this area 
at shallow depths, but it is somewhat alkaline, and it is improbable 
that this land could be successfully farmed with such irrigation water 
as could be developed locally. 
48133— ibb 220—08 4 



50 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

The structure of Warner Valley is unfavorable to the existence of 
water under pressure in the porous beds of the basaltic series under- 
lying the alluvium and lake sediments. The valley owes its origin 
to faulting, the southern portion being a dropped block faulted on 
both sides, as shown in the cross section PI. X, page 66. 

The scarp that limits the valley on the west dies out near Plush, 
so that the northern part of the valley is formed by the lower portion 
of a tilted block, as shown in the section through Chewaucan Marsh 
(PI. X). It has been shown (p. 47) that such faulting is unfavorable 
to the occurrence of ground water under pressure ; hence it is not worth 
while to undertake deep drilling in the rock underlying this valley in 
the hope of obtaining flowing water. 

GOOSE LAKE VALLEY. 

Goose Lake Valley lies in the southern end of Lake County. The 
lower two-thirds of the lake is in California, but by far the greater 
portion of the valley is in Oregon, north of the lake. On the east the 
steep-faced extension of the Warner Mountains borders the valley 
at only 2 or 3 miles' distance from the lake, but to the north and 
northwest the surrounding slopes are more gentle and give way to 
low hills on the southwestern side. 

Around the north end of the lake there is marsh hay land, but the 
upper part of the valley is practically all unreclaimed and is used only 
for grazing purposes. 

Nearly all of the people in this valley live on its eastern side. Lake- 
view, the county seat, is situated at the edge of the valley a few miles 
beyond the north end of the lake. Fifteen miles south of it is the 
town of New Pine Creek, at the Oregon-California line, and between 
these two towns there are a number of ranches; but on the west and 
the north sides of the valley there are only a few scattered homes. 

Near New Pine Creek a number of orchards and gardens are irri- 
gated by the small streams along the eastern side of the lake, and 
these, together with shallow wells, supply all of the water at present 
needed. At Lakeview a good supply of water for the town is obtained 
from springs in the hills above, and the few private domestic wells 
reach only to the ground-water level, so at no place in the valley has 
an attempt been made to get deeper water in the valley sediments. 

At the north end of the valley gravel beds have been deposited. 
These are probably saturated below the ground-water level, and water 
could be developed by pumps, but the returns to be expected would 
scarcely warrant this means of irrigation, at least for some years to 
come. 

The filling in of the valley depression by wash from the surround- 
ing slopes, the presence of the lake, much smaller now than in the 




;i : mim il v 



'flirts 



GOOSE AND ABERT LAKE BASINS. 51 

past, and the constant deposition of fine sediments in this lake are 
genetic conditions favorable to that alternation of coarse and fine 
deposits essential to artesian flows. It is probable that cased wells 
of the California type (described on p. 78) and less than 500 feet deep, 
if sunk in the lowest parts of the valley, west of Lakeview, would 
yield flowing water; but it is not thought that such water can be 
developed in the higher, northern part of this valley. 

On the eastern edge of the valley, near Lakeview, three hot springs 
rise, with a temperature of about 173° F. These serve to strengthen 
the topographic evidence that this, like Warner Valley, has been pro- 
duced by a faulted block, having the character of the dropped keystone 
of an anticlinal arch, as shown in the cross section on PL X. In such 
a structural basin, whose origin is almost fatal to the existence of rock 
water under artesian head, it would be useless to attempt to obtain 
flowing wells by deep drilling if ever water should be needed for 
agricultural purposes. 

ABERT LAKE BASIN. 

In the central part of the county Summer Lake, Chewaucan Marsh, 
and Abert Lake are in a valley that was once occupied by a single 
great water body ; hence these three now rather distinct basins are 
topographically one. Structurally, however, they are separate, and 
therefore they will be separately considered. 

Abert Lake lies in the eastern, lowest depression of this valley, in 
the most typical structural basin formed by a tilted block in this 
entire region. On its eastern side a cliff rises from the water's edge 
to a height of more than 2,000 feet, while on the western side the 
gentle slope of the surface of the tilted block rises to the scarp over- 
looking Chewaucan Marsh, as is shown in PI. VIII, reproduced from 
Russell's article on the region. 

As its water level has lowered, the lake has left an extended area of 
marsh land at its northern end, but little or none along the steeper 
sides of its basin. This marsh land is controlled by the "XL" ranch, 
and is used for winter pasture, besides furnishing many tons of wild hay. 

A strong spring of good water, 63° F. in temperature, rises at the 
ranch house and supplies abundant water for stock and for all domestic 
purposes. 

In the northeastern portion of this basin there is some agricultural 
land where one or two families live, but little attempt has been made to 
develop water for irrigation. At a number of places along the western 
shore of the lake there are fresh-water springs of small volume. These 
are evidently fed by waters that accumulate on the monoclinal slopes 
between the lake and Chewaucan Marsh, seep down the dip of the 
basalts, and reach the surface at the lake border. 



52 GEOLOGY AND WATEKS OF PART OF OREGON. 

As there is so little land here possible of reclamation, and hence so 
little demand for a large water supply, and as, in addition, the geologic 
structure is so evidently unfavorable, it is scarcely necessary to say 
that the probability of the occurrence of available rock water under 
artesian head is very small. 

SMALLER VALLEYS. 

Near the head of Crooked Creek, about 12 miles south of Lake Abert, 
in a narrow valley known as Antelope Valley, there are a few settlers. 
The alluvial soil here seems deep and is capable of growing good crops, 
but as elsewhere, and under present conditions perhaps most profit- 
ably, the land is used mainly as pasture. 

Along Coyote and Moss creeks there are also a few settlers, where the 
streams supply water for small gardens and orchards, and nearly all 
such small areas have long been occupied by homesteaders. 

VALLEY OF CHEWAUCAN MARSH. 

The valley occupied in large part by Chewaucan Marsh extends 
southeastward from where the river of the same name emerges from 
its canyon to within a short distance of Lake Abert. Its eastern border 
is the edge of the tilted block that dips under Lake Abert, while the 
western side is bounded by the steep slopes that separate it from the 
drainage basin of the river. 

Paisley is situated on the banks of the river where it enters the val- 
ley. South of Paisley, along the edge of the valley, there are several 
ranches where grain, alfalfa, and fruits are grown, but north of the 
town there are no settlements. 

The marsh land is under the control of two or three large cattle com- 
panies. The river water mostly sinks in this marsh, but by means of 
drainage canals the land is kept fairly dry, so that great quantities of 
wild hay are cut from it: Only at The Narrows is there much unpro- 
ductive alkaline land. 

An area of several square miles north of Paisley and the terraces 
south of the town, against the hills, are covered with gravel brought 
down by Chewaucan River. A section in this material is exposed at 
the river bank, just below the Paisley bridge, showing about 4 feet of 
this gravel overlying 6 or 8 feet of river sands, which in turn overlie 
finer material, probably lake sediments. A low alluvial divide sepa- 
rates the marsh from Summer Lake Valley, but a well-defined channel 
still exists in it, through which the two basins were formerly connected. 

On the terrace land near Paisley a number of acres of alfalfa are 
irrigated by ditches that take water from the river a short distance 
up its canyon. Much land above the level of the present irrigating 
ditches, at both the northern and the southern ends of the marsh and 
along the western side of the valley, will be susceptible of cultivation 



CHEWAUCAN MARSH AND SUMMER LAKE VALLEYS. 53 

when water can be supplied to it, but at present it is used only for 
stock range. The greater diversion of the waters of Chewaucan River 
for this purpose would no doubt benefit the marsh land also, for much 
of it is too wet to permit easy harvesting of the wild hay. While it is 
probable that water for irrigating these higher parts of the valley can 
best be obtained from storage reservoirs in the upper course of the 
river, a number of small streams along the western side of the valley 
could be made to furnish a useful local supply. These streams usually 
sink in the alluvial fans at the mouths of their gorges, but when traced 
toward their sources in springs in the mountains above are found to 
have a considerable flow, which might profitably be piped or flumed to 
the lands along the edges of the valley. 

Like most of the other valleys, that occupied by Chewaucan Marsh 
has been produced by faulting. The scarp on its eastern side is clear 
evidence of such movement there, and it is thought that similar 
deformation has taken place on the western side also, as shown in 
the cross section, PI. X, but the evidence on this side of the valley 
is not so clear. 

This structure of course precludes the probability of the existence of 
available water in the underlying rocks. But in the central part of 
the basin there is too great an abundance of surface water, the prob- 
lem at present being rather one of regulation of the supply and of 
drainage than of the development of additional water; and, as hereto- 
fore stated, for irrigating the arid portions of the valley water can 
probably be best obtained from the river. 

SUMMER LAKE VALLEY. 
DESCRIPTION. 

Summer Lake Valley resembles the basin of Abert Lake in being 
bounded on one side by a great scarp and on the other by more gentle 
slopes. On the north rise the slopes of the cross anticline separating 
it from Christinas Lake Valley, while southward the delta deposits of 
Chewaucan River divide it from the marsh lands of the river's lower 
course. The land between the south end of Summer Lake and Paisley 
is gravelly and is apparently not alkaline. At present it is too arid 
to be of value for agriculture, but by irrigation it can no doubt be 
rendered very productive. 

STREAMS. 

Along its western side, between the rim rock and the lake's edge, 
numerous streams furnish water for irrigation as well as for domestic 
purposes, and it is here that most of the ranches of this valley are 
situated. This is one of the mildest spots in the county, so that 
nearly all the common vegetables and many varieties of fruit are to be 



54 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OP OREGON. 

found in its gardens and orchards; but the tillable land is limited to 
the narrow strip between the lake and Winter Ridge ; hence its area is 
not great. In the northern part of the valley much of the surface is 
either arid, sandy, sagebrush land, or a greasewood flat. Near the 
lake the land is more moist, and here a few settlers have taken up 
claims, but most of the marsh land is controlled by stockmen. 

SPRINGS. 

Conditions of occurrence. — The largest and best known springs in 
this region are those that issue through the sediments near the north- 
west edge of the valley and give rise to Ana River, which flows south- 
ward about 5 miles, to Summer Lake. Near these springs the river 
channel has cut nearly 40 feet deep into the lake deposits, prohibit- 
ing easy utilization of its water, but farther down a small part is 
diverted for irrigation. 

The marshy areas around the northern end of the lake are kept 
moist by numerous springs, some of which form only small marshy 
spots, while others give rise to streams, such as Buckhorn and Johnson 
creeks. The temperature of Buckhorn Creek was not measured, but 
it is said to be somewhat warmer than that of Ana River (66° F.), 
while that of the two springs supplying Johnson Creek is 10 degrees 
cooler, or 56° F. 

At the Bonham ranch, on the eastern side of the valley, the tem- 
perature of the strongest flowing spring is 66° F., the same as that of 
the springs that supply Ana River. On this ranch, in what is known 
as Thousand Spring Valley, a number of acres are irrigated naturally 
by many small springs. By distributing the water through small 
ditches Mr. J. H. Bonham has reclaimed much of the greasewood 
flat on his ranch and has greatly increased the original area of marsh 
hay land, thus demonstrating what water alone will accomplish on 
these apparent wastes. The water, constantly rising and evaporating 
tends to increase the alkalinity of the soil, and is insufficient in quan- 
tity to permit drainage and the leaching out of the alkali, so that only 
the natural grasses and salt bushes grow readily. Of the many kinds 
of trees tried, only a few cottonwoods along one of the ditches have 
lived. 

The tendency of the alkali to rise with the use of water is also 
shown on the ranches in the northwestern part of this valley, near Ana 
River. Cultivation and irrigation from shallow wells tapping only 
the ground water have in several instances caused the garden areas to 
become so alkaline as to prevent nearly all of the common vegetables 
from maturing. 

At the north end of the valley, in Juniper Canyon, water rises, appar- 
ently from a canyon spring or one where water seeps out of a tufa 
bed exposed along the canyon side. This has only a small flow, and 



SPRINGS IN SUMMER LAKE VALLEY. 55 

it is improbable that any considerable amount could be developed 
here to irrigate the higher valley sides, but as it is the only spring of 
this character noted it is thought worthy of mention. 

At the southeast end of Summer Lake the Woodward hot spring 
rises, with a temperature of 123° F. The flow in November, 1906, 
was about 2 miner's inches. The water is used for irrigating garden 
vegetables and for bathing purposes. The location of the spring is not 
far from the steep slopes of this side of the valley, and the occurrence 
is considered additional evidence of faulting here. 

Origin of the Ana River springs. — There are additions to the flow of 
Ana River, probably by seepage along its banks, below the group of 
five or more large springs at its source that supply the greater part of 
its flow. Johnson Creek, east of Ana River, has a flow of perhaps 20 
second-feet, and the springs of Thousand Spring Valley yield a large 
aggregate. All told, it is probable that at least 200 second-feet con- 
stant flow rises through the silts and alluvium in this end of Summer 
Lake Valley. 

The question of the source of this water is one that interests all who 
visit the springs. The region is semiarid, and the drainage area tribu- 
tary to Summer Lake is limited and clearly inadequate to supply the 
water yielded by the strong and remarkably uniform flow of the springs. 
It has been asserted that Silver Lake is the source of supply, but in 
the years when tin's lake dried away completely the flow from the 
springs did not appreciably lessen. 

No large streams discharge directly into the Summer Lake basin, 
but Chewaucan River discharges into the same topographic depres- 
sion just south of the alluvial divide that separates that basin from 
Chewaucan Marsh. It has been suggested that water from tins stream, 
which sinks in the sands and gravels, may percolate northward 
through the porous material that fills the lake basin and, rising beyond 
the lake, supply the springs in question. But the total mean flow of 
Chewaucan River during 1906, a year of more than average precipi- 
tation, was only 189 second-feet, and the flow during the previous year, 
of less than average precipitation, was only 93.5 second-feet. The 
total average discharge of this stream then, is less than the yield of 
the springs; and much the greater part of this total flows out through 
Chewaucan Marsh to Lake Abert. The relative elevations of the Ana 
River springs and the mouth of Chewaucan Canyon are not known. 
If the springs shall eventually be found higher than the canyon mouth, 
this fact will at once prove definitely that Chewaucan River water can 
not be the source from which the springs are supplied. The evidence 
just given, however, is regarded as practically conclusive, but addi- 
tional evidence in support of this conclusion is supplied by the tem- 
perature of the water of the Ana River springs. This issues at 66° F., 
which, if the usual increment of 1° above the mean annual tempera- 
ture for each 50 or 60 feet in depth be accepted, indicates that the 



56 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

water rises from more than 1,000 feet below the surface. It seems 
unlikely that the alluvium is this deep near the north rim of the valley, 
where the springs issue, hence it probably rises from porous beds in 
the underlying basalt. 

The fault that separates Winter Ridge from the valley east of it, 
since it represents a fracturing of the beds, furnishes a passage upward 
for any water that may be circulating at depths in porous layers inter- 
bedded with the basalts. It is unlikely that this water comes from 
the eastward, because the known faults in that direction furnish 
drainage ways through which any confined water can escape, and the 
intermediate areas are arid. 

West and southwest from Summer Lake, however, the topography 
does not indicate such faulting as is characteristic of the area east- 
ward; it is indicative rather of open folding. Since much of this 
region is mountainous and timbered and receives a relatively high 
precipitation, as is indicated by the fact that it is the gathering ground 
for such large streams as Sprague and Williamson rivers, it seems a 
competent source of supply even for such large springs as those in 
question. If the open folding that is indicated exists here, it provides 
for the exposure of the porous beds in the lavas, so that the water sup- 
plied by precipitation may enter them. This folding may also pro- 
vide sufficient head to force the water eastward up the Winter Ridge 
monocline into Summer Lake Valley. 

Another explanation, which differs slightly from that just given, 
has been offered. The Summer Lake basin is considered to be a col- 
lapsed anticline — a block of the earth's surface that has dropped as a 
result of the stresses to which the crust has been subjected, and has 
broken away from the rocks on each side, which are now exposed as 
the scarps north and west of Summer Lake. It may be that the water 
of the Ana River springs and the other large springs nearby percolate 
northward from the region of the upper Chewaucan drainage basin, 
along the axis of this anticline, and escape to the surface through the 
faults that mark both the northern edge of the dropped block and the 
northern edge of Summer Lake Valley. 

In both of these explanations the spring waters are regarded as 
waters that escape from the basalts through the passages that the 
faults provide. They differ in the assumed source and direction of 
percolation of these waters. Of the two, that which supposes that 
they originate in the country west and southwest of Summer Lake is 
regarded as the more probable. 

ARTESIAN POSSIBILITIES. 

Shallow water. — The evident saturation of the alluvial and lacus- 
trine deposits over wide areas in the northern end of Summer Lake 
Valley by water that seeps to the surface or that rises in definite 
springs suggests the possibility of obtaining flowing water in this 



SUMMER AND SILVER LAKE VALLEYS. 57 

locality by sinking relatively shallow cased wells from 100 to 500 feet 
in depth. These swampy conditions in areas of marked slope are 
familiar evidences of the existence of subsurface water under pressure 
sufficient for the development of flowing wells, and so strong is this 
evidence in certain parts of tins valley that there can be but little 
doubt that the sinking of cased wells would prove a successful venture. 

Whatever the origin of the water in the unconsolidated deposits, it 
is clearly present in some quantity. As it now rises naturally by 
seepage over wide areas, it is very harmful to the land, depositing as 
it evaporates great quantities of alkali, which unfits the soil for agri- 
cultural purposes. Wells sunk in the moist land should therefore 
bring about two beneficial results: First, the present numerous small 
springs would probably dry up, their yield being concentrated in the 
relatively few wells, so that it would be much more readily available 
for irrigation ; and secondly, the drying up of these seepages would 
lessen the present rapid rise of alkali and would thereby render the 
present alkaline lands valuable. Thus the sinking of shallow artesian 
wells should accomplish both concentration of the water supply and 
drainage of the swampy land. Thousand Spring Valley and the 
basins of Buckhorn and Johnson creeks are favorable localities for 
experimental wells. 

Deep water. — In the paragraphs on structure (p. 26) and on the 
origin of the Ana River springs (p. 55) it has been explained that 
Summer Lake Valley is probably due to the collapse of an anticline 
and the consequent dropping down of a great block of the basalts. 
The bed rock beneath the valley is therefore faulted, and whatever 
water may be circulating through it is not confined under pressure, 
but is permitted to leak out along the fault planes into the overlying 
alluvium. As already indicated, the water yielded by the great 
springs of this area probably has this origin. But this leakage is a 
condition unfavorable to the existence of water under pressure in the 
basaltic rock underlying the sands, gravels, and silts that make up the 
surface of the valley. It is not expected, therefore, that deep drilling 
would develop flowing water in the bed rock beneath the valley. 

SILVER LAKE VALLEY. 

Northwest of Summer Lake Valley, and separated from it by a 
divide about 500 feet in height, lies Silver Lake, in the southern end 
of its basin. The lake itself is bounded on the east and on the west 
by scarps, but northward the valley opens out into a wide area of 
marsh, beyond whose borders there is much nearly level sagebrush land, 
at present dry, but cultivable and valuable if water can be applied. 
From the gentle slopes to the west and southwest three streams, 
Silver, Bridge, and Bear creeks, more definitely described on pages 31 
and 35, flow into Pauline Marsh and thence into the lake. On the north 



58 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

and east Conley Hills and their southward extension separate the 
valley from the larger Christmas Lake Valley. Topographically, 
however, Silver Lake Valley is really a part of this wider area, being 
connected with it by a broad, low passage extending eastward to 
Thorn Lake, into which, at periods of very high water, Silver Lake 
overflows; 

Like other areas of similar character, Pauline Marsh is given over 
to the growth of native grasses that are cut for hay, while drainage 
ditches carry off much of the superfluous water southward to the lake. 
The sagebrush land beyond the limits of the marsh can be made pro- 
ductive by irrigation, but at present it is used mainly as a stock range. 
Only from Bear Creek is water diverted to any extent for irrigation, 
and this is used only in the extreme western part of the valley. 

On the low slopes of the south side of the valley a few springs have 
produced green patches of pasture land and furnish watering places for 
the range animals. The largest of these, Thomson and Murdock 
springs, 3 miles southeast of Silver Lake, flowed about 9 and 25 miner's 
inches, respectively, in October, 1906. Their temperature (48°) 
indicates that they are surface springs, not deep seated, though the 
water may rise from a porous bed along which it has percolated from 
the slopes of Hager Mountain. 

At the town of Silver Lake water is obtained in the 25 or 30 domestic 
wells in a soft porous material, usually at less than 30 feet below the 
surface. This seems essentially a subsurface flow, depending for its 
supply on the run-off from the surrounding slopes, for in winter, when 
the mountains are snow covered and the ground is frozen, the water 
level in the wells lowers. The water is of good quality, tests indicat- 
ing only about 50 parts of alkaline salts in 100,000. 

The only attempt to obtain deep water in the area examined has 
been made at Silver Lake. Mr. F. M. Chrisman, of this place, put 
down a 6-inch hole on the south edge of the town to a depth of about 
250 feet, where the drill became caught and work was suspended. The 
usual subsurface water was found at a depth of 47 feet, but no other 
supply was developed, the drill being fast in dry vesicular basalt. A 
record of the well as kept by Mr. Chrisman shows a depth of 108 feet 
of clays, sands, and gravels, below which lies a thick tuff bed, probably 
like that at Fort Rock, underlain by basalt. 

The structure of this basin seems more favorable to the finding of 
artesian water in the basalts than that of any of the other valleys of 
Lake County, except perhaps the Christmas Lake desert. On the 
west and south the slope of the lava beds is toward the valley. To 
the north also, along the base of Horning Bend, an exposure of tuff 
indicates that the dip is toward the valley, but on the eastern side this 
structure is not exhibited. The tuff composing these eastern hills is 
somewhat folded, but the dips are universally eastward, away from 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 220 PL. IX 




A. SAGEBRUSH IN CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 




B. AREA IN CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY CLEARED BY BURNING. 




C. SAND SPRINGS. 



CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 59 

Silver Lake Valley. What effect on artesian conditions this struc- 
ture may have can not be stated definitely, but the Conley Hills and 
their extension in each direction probably separate it structurally 
from that of Christmas Lake Valley. Certainly the structural condi- 
tions are such as to justify a thorough test by the drilling of a well, 
1,000 to 2,000 feet in depth, in the neighborhood of Silver Lake. 

Satisfactory evidence of the structural relation of the Conley Hills 
to the regularly dipping basalts south and west of them, or to the 
horizontal basalts across the desert on the northeast, was not obtained, 
but the geologic cross section (PI. X) is thought to represent the 
essential features of their relation to the valley on each side at its 
southern end. 

CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 
DESCRIPTION. 

The largest valley of the Lake County area, and the one that seems 
capable of the greatest development, is that of Christmas Lake. 
Under this name is included all of the country northwest toward Fort 
Kock, as well as that around Christmas and Fossil lakes. It is an 
extensive, nearly level plain, 40 or 50 miles long from east to west, but 
much narrower from north to south. Unlike nearly all of the other 
valleys, it is not inclosed by steep walls; on all sides the slope to the 
surrounding basaltic "high desert" areas is gentle. On the west Fort 
Rock and Table Rock are prominent landmarks from nearly all parts 
of the valley, as is St. Patrick Mountain on the south, while on the 
north side of the valley the recent volcanic cones produce a low relief. 
Within the valley itself two low ridges rise above the sediments — a 
basaltic tongue extending southward from Bunchgrass Butte, and 
Sevenmile Ridge, a remnant of tuff like that at Fort Rock, that extends 
into the valley from its southern border. 

Most of the valley floor supports a growth of sage, which in the 
more sandy areas is tall and dense, as in PI. IX, A, but over much 
of the valley is not so thick as to interfere seriously with travel in 
any direction. In the more alkaline areas the surface tends to bake 
to a hardpan, over which there is only a scanty growth of grease 
brush. 

Bunch grass and rye grass grow to some extent through nearly all 
of the valley land, and afford fair range for stock. 

SETTLEMENT. 

Two years ago there was only one family living in Christmas Lake 
Valley. In February, 1905, a party of a dozen or more men, neigh- 
bors and residents in Willamette Valley, were brought in by a 
"locator" and took up claims in the region north of Fossil Lake, now 



60 



GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 



locally known as " Sucker Flat." In the fall of the same year and 
in the spring of 1906 others came in and settled, chiefly around 
Christinas and Fossil lakes. Post-offices have been established at 




Lake and Cliff (named after the locator who brought the settlers in) , 
and a school district has been formed. Nearly all of the claims have 
been inclosed by substantial barbed-wire fences, the junipers of the 



CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 61 

valley sides furnishing good posts for this purpose, and frame build- 
ings have been put up. 

About 120 claims had been filed on in the valley up to November 
20, 1906. A number took up homesteads; others filed on desert 
claims. The approximate area filed on is shown in fig. 1. 

METHODS OF CLEARING AND FARMING. 

As most of the settlers began to clear land too late in the fall of 
1905 to permit of burning, nearly all of the area planted the following 
spring was cleared by grubbing. Owing to the loose nature of the 
soil this is comparatively easy and gives a field nearly free from 
brush roots. During the summer of 1906 it was found that on a hot 
da} T , with a steady, moderate breeze, the denser patches of sage, once 
fired, burned completely, the fire often following the roots below the 
surface. In PI. IX, B, is shown a burned area that was formerly 
covered with tall brush, like that in PI. IX, A, which shows a view 
of the tallest, densest sage in the valley, on the sandy land 2 or 3 
miles west of Christmas Lake. Dragging with a heavy beam has 
been tried where the brush is too thin to burn readily, but it is not 
brittle enough to make this method of clearing successful. Grubbing 
seems the most practical means on such areas. 

Some of the homesteaders have filed on claims, intending to rely 
on dry farming with constant cultivation, as practiced in Kansas and 
elsewhere. Most of the grain and vegetables raised during the sum- 
mer of 1906 (the first season that farming was tried here) matured 
without irrigation, and showed that the soil is fertile, though as yet 
rather deficient in humus, or vegetable mold. But 1906 is generally 
regarded as a favorable year. As indicated by the rainfall records, it 
was at least as wet as the average, and in drier years such excel- 
lent results can not be expected without irrigation. 

Records from places of low rainfall show that there are more sea- 
sons with less than the average precipitation than there are wet years, 
for in a wet year there may be twice the average rainfall or more, to 
balance which would require a year of absolutely no rainfall. As this 
almost never occurs, a few very wet years serve to keep the average 
up, hence in arid regions there are more dry years than wet ones. 

TENTATIVE IRRIGATION METHODS. 

Desert claims. — The desert land acts of 1877 and 1891 provide that 
a maximum of 320 acres of land may be filed on as a desert claim, 
but within three years one-eighth of it must be under cultivation, 
and the whole area under irrigation, except high places evidently not 



62 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

susceptible of irrigation; ° so that those who have filed on desert 
claims in this valley realize that they must develop a large supply of 
water within the next few years. 

Pumping. — Pumping has been considered, both by windmills and 
by distillate engines, from a number of shallow wells, or from large 
basins scooped out in the soil to ground-water level; for water is 
found at a shallow depth all through the valley, although not in 
great abundance nor of good quality. From local observation of the 
wind during the season of 1906 the writer believes that windmills 
can not be relied upon to any extent to furnish power, for, as in 
many other arid sections, during the hot, dry periods there is little 
or no breeze. 

Even if a sufficient flow of ground water can be developed, which 
from the meager evidence at hand seems doubtful, the present cost 
of hauling in fuel is not warranted by the returns that may reason- 
ably be expected from the land irrigated. The quality of the sub- 
surface water should also be taken into account in considering its 
prospective use for irrigation, for it is all alkaline, at least all of the 
shallower water, which is all that has so far been developed, and 
although perhaps its use for the first few years would not be notice- 
ably injurious to crops, its continued use, if not carefully managed, 
could not fail to be. 

Storage reservoirs. — In other parts of the Northwest small storage 
reservoirs are constructed to conserve the run-off of the stormy sea- 
son, both for irrigation and to furnish water for stock during the 
summer. The methods of constructing these reservoirs and the pre- 

a Section 1 of the desert land laws, approved March 3, 1877, provides that any citizen of the United 
States, or person who has filed his declaration to become such, upon payment of 25 cents an acre may 
file a declaration that he intends to reclaim a tract of desert land, by conducting water upon it within 
the period of three years. 

Section 2 designates "that all lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands which will not, with- 
out irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, shall be deemed desert lands." 

Section 3 provides that this act shall apply only to California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, 
Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, North and South Dakota. 

Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, approved March 3, 1891, further provide as follows: Section 4 provides that 
at the time of filing his declaration the party shall also file a map showing the mode of contemplated 
irrigation; section 5, that no land shall be patented under this act until at least $3 for each acre of the 
whole tract reclaimed shall have been expended in the necessary irrigation, reclamation, and cultiva- 
tion. The party must file during each year, with the register, proof that the full sum of 51 an acre has 
been thus expended; and "If any party who has made such application shall fail during any year to 
file the testimony aforesaid, the lands shall revert to the United States, and the twenty-five cents 
advanced payment shall be forfeited to the United States, and the entry shall be cancelled. Nothing 
herein contained shall prevent a claimant from making his final entry and receiving his patent at an 
earlier date than hereinbefore prescribed, provided that he then makes the required proof of reclama- 
tion to the aggregate extent of three dollars per acre: Provided, That proof be further required of the 
cultivation of one-eighth of the land." 

Section 6 provides that these later sections shall not conflict with any provisions of the act of March 
3, 1877. 

Section 7 provides that not more than 320 acres may be filed on under this act. 

Section 8 states that this act shall apply also to the State of Colorado; and that "no person shall be 
entitled to make entry of desert land except he be a resident citizen of the State or Territory in which 
the land sought to be entered is located." 



CHKISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 63 

cautions that should be taken to insure their permanence are described 
in a recent bulletin of the Department of Agriculture.* 

It seems that such reservoirs might prove of value in at least two 
localities on the edge of Christmas Lake Valley — in the slopes toward 
the sink of Peter Creek, and south of Christmas Lake, in Fandango 
Canyon. It is said that at times considerable flood water comes 
down these slopes, and even during the very general examination of 
the localities upon which this report is based several favorable res- 
ervoir sites were noticed. 

In regard to the amount of water that could be thus stored little 
can be said, for data both as to the extent of the drainage areas and 
as to the amount of run-off are almost wholly lacking. The latter 
would no doubt vary between wide limits for different years, and 
probably a dependable supply could not be counted on to be thus 
stored for summer use; but this method of conserving water is used 
successfully elsewhere in the Northwest, and is at least worthy of 
consideration by settlers in northern Lake County. 

In Wyoming and Dakota series of such reservoirs have been con- 
structed in the prairies solely to provide water holes along the trails 
over which cattle are driven to shipping points. The scarcity of 
water holes in the high desert area between Christmas and Alkali lake 
valleys, after the natural sinks have dried up, has been the great draw- 
back to this area as stock range. Low dams built with a compara- 
tively small amount of labor across the lower ends of some of these 
sinks would greatly increase their storage capacity and the length of 
time they would serve as water holes, but it is doubtful if such water- 
ing places would last all summer. Even the deepest of these sinks 
were dry in September and October, and evidently had been so for two 
or three months. It is probable that in this area of indefinite drainage 
the run-off is so small a percentage of the precipitation, and the tribu- 
tary drainage areas are so small, that such a means of conserving 
water for range animals would serve only to lengthen somewhat the 
high desert range period, but would not extend it throughout the 
summer. Thus it would be but a temporary expedient. 

GROUND- WATER LEVEL. 

In order to supplement the data concerning the ground-water level 
that were obtained from the shallow wells that have been dug, a num- 
ber of 2-inch auger holes were put down in the unsettled portions of the 
valley. The locations of these test holes and of the wells examined 
are shown in fig. 1, and a table of the depths and water levels is given 
below. 

3 Hen-man, F. C, Small reservoirs in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota: Bull. 179, Office of 
Experiment Stations, U. S. Dept. Agriculture, 1907. This bulletin may be obtained free of charge by 
request to Dr. A. C. True, Director, Office of Exp. Stations, U. S. Dept. Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



64 



GEOLOGY AND WATEKS OF PART OF OREGON. 



Wells and test holes in Christmas and Silver Lake valleys. 



No. of 
well, a 



Owner. 



Mr. Beard 

(Test well) ... 
Mr. Gaskell... 
J. W. Hanley. 
Mr. Beard, sr. 
Mr. Whitney. . 



Dr. Ewing 

Dr. Thayer 

Joe Kasperonez. 



Frank Polte 

Mr. Wardall 

James Wilson 

/James McCurdy (3 
\ wells) . 

John C. Green 

W. A. McHargue. . 

Mr. McCurdy 

Mr. Brown 

Mr. Lanning 

M. W. Richmond.. 
A. W. Long 



Mr. Lans 



J. A. Pond.... 

John Ross 

Mr. Anderson. 
(Auger hole) . . 

do 

do 

do 



.do. 
.do. 
.do. 



....do 

(Well) 

(Auger hole) . 

....do 

....do 

....do 



....do 

....do 

(Well) 

F. M. Chrisman. 



Roy Ward . . . 
T. J.. La Brie. 
Hayes Bros. . 



Location. 



T. S. R. E. Sec 



Depth 
in feet. 



22 
30 
28 
35 
25 
12 

10 

12J 

12* 

4 
13§ 

12 
16 
14 
12 
12 
13 
17 
U) 
26 
31 
22 
16 
22 
23 

20 
21 
27 
20 
20 
W 
16 

3 

16 

4 
26 
26 

7 

5 

24 

5 

4 

15 

247 



To 
water 
in feet. 



20 
(?) 29 

25 

25 
Dry. 

11 



10 
11 

Dry. 

12 
8 
10 
10 
10 
10 

11 

15 
9 
24J 
25" 
20 
13* 
21* 
22" 

20 
19-| 
20 
17 



Material passed through. 



Dry. 

Dry. 

12 

Drv. 

25 
24 

Dry. 

Dry. 
24 

Dry. 

Dry. 

Dry. 

49 

Drv. 

10 



Lake silts. 

Lake silts (water not used). 

Lake silts. 

Do. 
0-18, silts; 18-2.5, rotten basalt. 
Lake silts; a little rotten ibasalt at 

bottom. 
0-6, silts; 6-10, rotten basalt. 
Lake silts. 
Lake silts; a little rotten basalt at 

bottom. 
0-1J, silts; l*-4, rotten basalt. 
Lake silts. 
Do. 

0-4, silts; remaining depth, sand with 
streaks of clay. 

Lake silts. 
Do. 
Do. 

Lake silts; a little basalt at bottom. 
Lake silts. 

Do. 

Do. 
Lake silts (?) with basalt fragments. 

Do. 
0-16, lake silts (?); 16-23, basalt frag- 
ments. 
Alluvium and lake silts. 
Lake silts. 

Do. 
Sandy clay. 
Sands and moist clays. 
0-19, sands and moist clay; 19-19 J, tuff. 
Moist clay (at edge of alkaline pool, 

PI. Ill, C). 
Loose tuffaceous soil (?). 
0-64, silt and sand; 6*-7J, tuff. 
Silts, sands, and clays; 8-9, moist 
sand containing fresh-water shells. 
Loose soil, from decomposed tuff. ' 
0-25, lake silts; 25-26, tuff. 
Silts, sands, and clays. 
0-6, silts and sand; 6-7, tuff. 
0-4, lake silts; 4-5, tuff. 
0-16, lake silts and clays; 16-24, moist 

clay. 
0-4, lake silts; 4-5, tuff. 
0-3, lake silts; 3-4, tuff. 
Lake silts. 
0-108, lake silts and sands; 108-223, 

tuff; 223-247, basalt (?). 
Lake silts (?). 
Lake silts (near edge of marsh) . 

Do. 



a Locations indicated by corresponding numbers on fig. 1, p. 60. 

Throughout the settled area the soil is composed of sands and sedi- 
ments, which extend to a considerable depth. No coarse gravels are 
met. The sink of Peter Greek, which at first glance seems to be 
a separate valley, is really connected with the main valley by a broad 
drainage channel to the east of Bunchgrass Butte, and the same fine 
sediments are found in it as in the main part of the valley. In 
four of the five wells examined in the sink the water level is 20 to 25 
feet below the surface, and the water is of good quality, the electro- 
lytic bridge a indicating an alkaline content of 30 to 40 parts in 100,000. 
The fifth well is in the southwest end of the so-called sink, near the 



a See footnote on p. 13. 



CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 65 

basalt rim. It has been dug 25 feet deep, passing through the usual 
silts au a depth of about 18 feet, and. penetrating the remainder of the 
distance into decomposed basalt, without finding water. 

Several wells along the northern side of "Sucker Flat" have also 
reached the basalt at" depths of 10 or 12 feet. A small amount of 
water of fair quality has been found at this depth. Well No. 9 also 
reaches basalt at a depth of 11 feet, but its water is much more 
alkaline than that of the others. Half a mile north of this well basalt 
has been found onty 2 or 3 feet below the surface, although there is no 
indication in the character of the brush that the soil here is so shallow. 
As shown by the wells farther south in the flat, the soil in that part is 
deeper. Basalt has not been found in them at a maximum depth of 
31 feet in well No. 19. The ground-water level varies from about 10 
feet below the surface near Cliff post-office to 25 feet near Christmas 
Lake. The material in which water is found varies in texture from 
sandy to clayey. 

South and west of Christmas Lake the waters are as a rule of better 
quality than in the area near Fossil Lake. In October, 1906, the 
water level was about 20 feet below the surface and the mineral con- 
tent was from 25 to 50 parts in 100,000. In all of the wells it has been 
noticed that on standing for any length of time the water becomes 
more strongly alkaline and has an odor as of decaying organic matter. 
In one well, near No. 15, even though in constant use, the water 
became so strong as to necessitate the digging of another well. 

The wells on the south side of the valley show that the sediments 
thin out there as on the north. Fragmental volcanic material is 
met near the bottoms of wells Nos. 21, 22, and 23, which, being from 
16 to 23 feet deep, are extended only a foot or so below the water level. 

West and northwest of Sevenmile Ridge a number of auger holes 
were put down, which indicate that the tuff exposed in this ridge, in 
the hills near Table Rock and in Fort Rock, underlies this part of the 
valley at shallow depths. Some irregularities in its surface have 
perhaps formed basins, as at test holes Nos. 33 and 39, where water 
was found at depths of 12 and 24 feet, respectively; but in others a 
hard material, probably the tuff, was encountered at 3 to 20 feet 
below the surface. 

A short distance south of Fort Rock a well 25 feet deep has been 
dug, which passes through 25 feet of the usual light-colored silts 
into the tuff. The water was 1 foot deep in October, 1906, and 
although it evidently had been standing a long time, contained only 
40 to 50 parts of solids in 100,000. 

There were no wells in the southeast arm of the valley and no test 
holes were sunk in it, but Mr. A. W. Long, of Lake, reports having 
found water at a depth of 15 feet at one point in this area. Its gen- 
eral character indicates water conditions similar to those near Fossil 
Lake rather than to those of the western part of the valley. 
48133— ire 220—08 5 



66 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OE PART OP OREGON. 

ANALYSES OF WATERS. 

Analyses of three well waters of this valley were made, those of 
James Wilson (well No. 12), J. C. Green (well No. 14), and John Ross 
(well No. 25). These are given in Table C, on page 72 (samples C, D, 
and E), and show alkaline contents, respectively, of 36.8, 235, and 
432.8 parts in 100,000. There is no change in the character of the 
surface to indicate why the water at Mr. Wilson's should be so much 
purer than that at Mr. Green's, except that the former is nearer the 
edge of the valley. In digging Mr. Ross's well a lump of gypsum 
(sulphate of lime) a foot long and 6 or 8 inches in diameter was found 
at a depth of 14 or 15 feet (water being struck at 194 feet) ; this makes 
the high percentage of sulphate in this water not surprising. Its 
mineral character is distinctly appreciable to the taste. 

SPRINGS. 

Close to the western shore of Christmas Lake there is a well 9 feet 
deep, in which the water stands about 5 feet below the surface. Its 
temperature in October, 1906, was 62° F., both on cold mornings and 
at midday. Its mineral content is about 40 parts in 100,000. It is 
said that originally there was a spring here, but that when the willows 
and nearby sage were cleared off it was soon buried by sand and was 
reopened only by digging this well. 

Christmas Lake is fed by an intermittent spring at its south end. 
Fossil Lake is also said to be fed by a spring near its center, from 
which, it is claimed, range riders have drunk when the lake was dry. 

The most interesting springs in the valley are those known as 
Mound Spring and Sand Springs. These rise in the sands of the area 
east of Fossil Lake, forming valued watering places for stock. Mound 
Spring is the larger, having a flow of about 2 miner's inches in October, 
1906, which supplied a pond 75 yards across. The water is sul- 
phurous in taste and rises with a temperature of 62° F. Sand Springs, 
one-third mile northward, are no doubt of the same origin, but the flow 
is less, being, as nearly as could be measured, about 1| inches. The 
nearness of these springs to the sand dunes is shown in PI. IX, C. 

DEEPER ALLUVIAL WATER. 

It has been stated in preceding pages that wells along the edges of 
the valley show that basalt there underlies the sediments at shallow 
depths. The low dips of the beds in the surrounding basalts, and a 
basaltic ridge that extends southward from Bunchgrass Butte, indi- 
cate that the lake sediments are not very deep at any point in the 
valley, nor do extensive alluvial slopes exist along its sides. So, 
while a larger supply of better water than, that of the present shallow 
wells may be found deeper below the surface, it does not seem probable 
that flowing wells can be developed in the lake sediments of this valley. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 220 PL. X 




Goose Xake 



WElMMMMEK 






nTnjTnTjTTjiij^^ 1 1 HITPTPT 

lS ^mVri!iiiViiliViiVi'iiTTTiTT u - L 




Silver Creek 



CHRISTMAS 




T'l lll'l'l I I I i I I llll i I li in-i l li lilnS-TT-rnTTtTTTT 



fn-i i i n 1 1 m i ito^."-' ..-yqaiiTiTT^TTTmiTiiTTO 




il l 1 1 1 mill I I TTTTfJ^ ^T^TrVitfijP /,'■ ■ :■■ -~ ^Tfnrffi? - 4+00 

]]1— 3600 



Horizontal scale 



n L1LT1U 



Recent eruptives Lake and stream 

deposits 



APPROXIMATE GEOLOGIC SECTIONS ALONG LINES SHOWN ON PL. VI. 
D-D', Cross ssction through Goose Lake Valley. E-E', Cross section through South Warner Valley F-F' , Cross sections through Chewaucan Marsh, Lake Abert, and Warner Valley. G-G', H-H' ', Cross sections through 

Christmas Lake Valley. 



CHRISTMAS LAKE VALLEY. 67 

ROCK WATER. 

Structural conditions. — The structural conditions affecting the exist- 
ence of flowing artesian water in the rocks underlying this valley 
may be stated briefly as follows: All along the valley's southern 
border the lava sheets dip uniformly toward the valley at low angles; 
on the eastern side also the slope is gentle toward the valley. The 
structure to the north is largely obscured by the -recent lava flows, 
but the older beds appear to be nearly horizontal; as exposed where 
they form the slopes to the sink of Peter Creek, however, they also 
appear to dip slightly toward the valley. On the west the Conley 
Hills and the eastward-dipping tuff ridge near Table Rock probably 
separate Christmas Lake Valley structurally from Silver Lake Valley. 
Within the valley itself there are at least two irregularities in the 
shallow basinlike structure. From Bunchgrass Butte a low basalt 
ridge extends southward toward the projecting scarp on the opposite 
side of the valley, and in Sevenmile Ridge there is a similar low 
peninsulalike ridge, but of tuff, pointing toward isolated blocks of the 
same material on the north side of the valley. In the tentative sec- 
tions (PI. X) the structure as interpreted is shown. 

From these features it appears that in addition to the general low 
synclinal structure of the valley as a whole there is also a tendency 
toward folding along axes trending north and south. If this inter- 
pretation is correct the valley is divided into three shallow basins, 
the eastern basin being that of Fossil Lake, the central that of Christ- 
mas Lake, and the third the desert west and northwest of Sevenmile 
Ridge. 

Favorable indications. — These minor secondary folds probably do 
not affect the likelihood of the existence of artesian water, for they are 
slight, and tend only to divide the valley, not to prevent the percola- 
tion toward it of deep water. The valley as a whole is a structural 
trough, and therefore the chances of obtaining deep water under 
pressure seem favorable. The absence of extensive faulting is also a 
condition which is favorable to the presence of rock water under pres- 
sure and which was not found in the southern valleys. 

As before stated, the temperature of Mound Spring is 62°, while the 
mean annual temperature of the valley is about 44°. Assuming the 
usual increase of temperature with depth as 1° F. for each 50 feet, the 
water of this spring probably rises from a depth of 900 feet. 

The presence of this warm spring, and possibly also the same tem- 
perature of the well at Christmas Lake, must be taken as indicating 
that deep water under pressure does exist under this valley. 

In the Connell-Ritzville district, in east-central Washington/' water 
is obtained at an average depth of 325 to 400 feet, in decomposed or 

a Calkins, F. C, Geology and water resources of a portion of east-central Washington: Water-Sup. 
Paper No. 118, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1905, pp. 69-75. 



68 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

fragmental basalt. None of the wells have been eased, but in several 
artesian pressure causes the water to rise a considerable height above 
the level at which it is struck, and it probably would rise to the sur- 
face if properly tapped. This is in a very gently sloping area, the dip 
of the beds being hardly appreciable to the eye. It is thought that 
the water of the district must come from a long distance, from the 
higher northwestern country, to attain the pressure that it has. 
Such a condition exists on a larger scale in the northern Mississippi 
Valley, where the surface exposure of the water-bearing Dakota 
sandstone is found many miles from the artesian localities. 

The Pauline Mountains lie about 30 miles north of Christmas Lake 
Valley. About the same distance west of Silver Lake Valley is the 
Walker Range, an eastern spur of the Cascades. Neither of these 
ranges was visited, but they are thought to consist of the same series 
of basalts that cover most of Lake County, and it seems not improb- 
able that the rocks dip from them toward Christmas Lake and Silver 
Lake valleys, and that an underground water supply such as exists 
in central Washington may reach these valleys from those sources. 

On the whole, while the data concerning the underground condi- 
tions within these two valleys are meager, the indications in favor of 
the existence of deep waters are sufficient to warrant the sinking of 
test wells. This matter has been seriously considered, especially since 
the settlement of Christmas Lake Valley. During the fall of 1906 it 
seemed about to assume definite shape, and it is hoped that work on 
a deep boring will soon be begun. 

ALKALI LAKE VALLEY. 

One other valley, that of Alkali Lake (PI. VII, B, p. 26), in the 
northeastern part of the county, was examined in some detail. This 
valley is about 20 miles long from north to south and about one- 
fourth as wide, being partially divided into two basins by the spur 
of hills north of the play a known as Alkali Lake. In each of the 
basins the surface is nearly level, its chief irregularities being the sand 
ridges or the hillocks of fine silts previously described. The area 
around the lake is for the most part a greasewood flat, in which the 
alkali is very evident ; during storms the soil becomes a slippery mud 
that, on drying, is caked by the soda salts to a hardpan surface. In 
North Alkali there is some better looking land, but it is rather 
"spotty," being in some places loose and sandy, with a good growth 
of sage, and in other places a hard, fine -silt with but a scanty covering 
of greasewood. 

On the east the basin is bordered by a scarp which is 1,200 feet in 
height in its southern portion, but which dies out toward the upper 
end of the depression. In other directions the basalt slopes rise 
gently to the higher desert plateau. 



ALKALI LAKE VALLEY. 69 

Through Venator Canyon on the northeast and a gorge at the 
northern end gravels have been brought down from the slopes of 
Little Juniper Mountain, and in the northwestern arm of the valley 
flood waters have deposited coarse sands and gravels, but elsewhere 
only fine sands and sediments are to be seen. 

The only house in this valley is on the west edge of Alkali Lake. 
It is a usual stopping place for travelers and range riders, and although 
permanently occupied by tenants who care for stock on the surround- 
ing range, no attempt has been made at agriculture, for the soil is too 
alkaline. 

In the looser soil at the north end of North Alkali Valley a few acres 
were cleared by a prospective settler, and grain raised ; but attempts 
to get water failed, several wells reaching basalt at shallow depths, 
and the claim has been abandoned. 

The only spring of importance in this valley is that at the west edge 
of Alkali Lake, at the only ranch house in the valley, and it has long 
been known as the only watering place within a radius of 20 miles. 
It is said that in early days the pool where this spring rises was only 
3 or 4 feet in diameter, but of great depth, and that range riders in 
attempting to sound it let down a weight several hundred feet without 
reaching bottom This is the usual legend about desert springs of 
this character and probably has no foundation in fact. Several years 
ago a levee was built around the spring to raise its water level and 
obtain better run-off to the lake, and a pond about 15 yards in diam- 
eter was thus formed. In this a weight could be lowered only 15 
feet. The temperature of the water in this pond (59°), which is 
probably less than when it first rises, indicates that it is of deep 
origin, however; according to previously used assumptions, it comes 
from a depth of 700 to 800 feet. Small fish live in the pool. In 
October, 1906, this spring discharged from 2 to 2\ miner's inches, 
which is its average summer flow, but during the winter its yield is 
said to be somewhat greater. The water has been reported to contain 
borax, but although it was not tested for borates, the analysis 
(sample A, p. 72) shows it to contain only 28 parts of solid matter in 
100,000 parts of water, all of which is accounted for in the salts 
determined. 

In North Alkali Valley there is a play a whose surface is about 12 
feet below the mean level of the basin. This depression is probably a 
" blow-out" that has been carved in the lake sediments by wind 
erosion. Along its northern side, during the spring and early summer, 
seepage springs furnish water for the range cattle, but they dry up 
later in the season. Similar springs appear along the northern edge 
of Alkali Lake after storms and sometimes during periods of cool, 
cloudy weather. The fluctuation of these springs is of interest in 
showing the summer lowering of the ground-water level and its 



70 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

changes due to weather conditions, as well as in indicating a seepage 
flow southward toward the lake, as would be expected. 

Several auger holes that were put down in the valley filling in North 
Alkali Valley to a depth of 18 or 20 feet show it to be composed of 
fine silts interbedded with sands, as in Christmas Lake Valley; the 
water level in November, 1906, was about 15 feet below the surface. 

As in the other valleys, water of better quality than that near the 
surface probably is present near the bottom of the sediments in this 
basin. But the evidence of extensive faulting along the eastern side 
of the depression, as at Abert Lake, indicates that deep rock water 
under artesian head does not underlie this region, and therefore, even 
if the land were not for the most part too alkaline for agriculture, 
cheap water for the necessary irrigation would not be available. 
Hence it seems improbable that more than a few scattered homes 
can ever be established here. 

RECLAMATION PROJECTS. 

One-third of the entire area of the United States (exclusive of 
Alaska and outlying territories) is still vacant public land. But 
nearly all of this that is susceptible of being tilled lies within the arid 
regions, or those having an average annual rainfall of less than 20 
inches ; and there are now in these regions few localities where homes 
can be easily made, owing to the great cost of developing water. It 
is for this reason that the Reclamation Service has been established, to 
aid in settling and rendering productive the great arid tracts, by con- 
structing dams, reservoirs, and canals to supply the needful water for 
irrigation. a 

Much of the valley land of Lake County was temporarily withdrawn 
from entry a year or more ago, pending the examination of the Silver 
Lake, Chewaucan, and Ana River reclamation projects. Part of the 

a The following extracts from the reclamation law, approved June 17, 1902, contain its main terms and 
provisions: 

"Sec. 1. * * * All moneys received from the sale and disposal of public lands in Arizona, Cali- 
fornia, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming * * * shall be * * * appropriated as 
a special fund in the Treasury to be known as the ' reclamation fund ' to be used in the examination and 
survey for and the construction and maintenance of irrigation works for the storage, diversion, and 
development of waters for the reclamation of arid and semiarid lands in the said States and Terri- 
tories. * * *." 

"Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior shall * * * withdraw from public entry the lands 
required for any irrigation works contemplated under the provisions of this act, and shall restore to 
public entry any of the lands so withdrawn when, in his judgment, such lands are not required for the 
purposes of this act; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, at or immediately prior to 
the time of beginning the surveys for any contemplated irrigation works, to withdraw from entry, 
except under the homestead laws, any public lands believed to be susceptible of irrigation from said 
works; * * * that public lands which it is proposed to irrigate by means of any contemplated works 
shall be subject to entry only under the provisions of the homestead laws in tracts of not less than forty 
nor more than one hundred and sixty acres, and shall be subject to the limitations, charges, terms, and 
conditions herein provided: Provided, That the commutation provisions of the homestead laws shall 
not apply to entries made under this act. 

"Sec. 4. That upon the determination by the Secretary of the Interior that any irrigation project is 
practicable, he may cause to be let contracts for the construction of the same * * * and * * * 



RECLAMATION AND SOILS. 71 

land in Christmas Lake Valley was again restored and opened to entry 
in September, 1906, but the greater part of the vacant land susceptible 
of irrigation under these three projects is still withdrawn. These 
projects are necessarily only tentative, and until several years" meas- 
urements of the streams indicate the supply of water that can be de- 
pended upon no further action can be taken. 

Here, as elsewhere, the Government has taken an important prelim- 
inary step toward conserving the water supply by creating the Goose 
Lake and Fremont forest reserves, for (with the possible exception 
of Ana River) all the streams are fed from the wooded mountain 
slopes, where protection and conservation of the scanty supply of 
moisture is of the utmost importance to any proposed irrigation 
project. 

Under the provisions of the Carey Act a the construction of a reser- 
voir on the upper Chewaucan River and irrigation of much of the lower 
land has been considered, but nothing has yet been done. 

SOILS. 

ANALYSES. 

Samples of the soil and water were collected at several places in the 
county and were analyzed by Mr. W. H. Heileman, engineer of soils 
at Berkeley, Cal. 

The soils were taken from near the surface of the uncultivated lands, 
which at the time the samples were collected (in October) probably 
contained their maximum amount of alkaline salts, so they are not 
fair samples. They were taken thus on the assumption that after the 
dry summer months the soil near the surface would be the most alka- 
line and would indicate the extreme conditions to be met. It is to be 
regretted, however, that samples of the deeper soil were not obtained, 
in order that the question whether there is a great quantity of salts 
present and danger of their rising with irrigation and cultivation, 
might have been answered. 

shall give public notice of the lands irrigable under such project, and limit of area per entry, which limit 
shall represent the acreage which, in the opinion of the Secretary, may be reasonably required for the 
support of a family upon the lands in question; also of the charges which shall be made per acre upon the 
said entries, and upon lands in private ownership which may be irrigated by the waters of the said irri- 
gation project, and the number of annual installments, not exceeding ten, in which such charges shall be 
paid and the time when such payments shall commence. The said charges shall be determined with a 
view of returning to the reclamation fund the estimated cost of construction of the project, and shall be 
apportioned equitably. * * * 

"Sec. 5. That the entryman upon lands to be irrigated by such works shall, in addition to compliance 
with the homestead laws, reclaim at least one-half of the total irrigable area of his entry for agricultural 
purposes, and before receiving patent for the lands covered by his entry, shall pay to the Government 
the charges apportioned against such tract, as provided in section four." * * * 

a According to the Carey Act of 1894, the United States may grant and patent to any of the arid States 
or Territories, free of cost, a total area not exceeding 1,000,000 acres which "the State may cause to be 
irrigated, reclaimed, occupied, and not less than twenty acres of each one hundred and sixty acre tract 
cultivated by actual settlers, * * - * as thoroughly as is required of citizens who may enter under the 
desert-land law." After filing an approved map of the land and plan of irrigation, the State is authorized 
to make necessary contracts and induce settlement, but is not authorized to lease the lands or dispose of 
them in any way except to secure reclamation. A maximum of 160 acres can be held by one person, and 
the surplus over cost of reclamation, derived from the sale, is to be held as a trust fund to be applied to 
the reclamation of other lands in the same State. 



72 



GEOLOGY AND WATEKS OE PAET OF OREGON. 



Following are the results of the soil and water analyses : 

Table A. — Alkali content of water extract on surface soils of Lake County, Oreg. 
[Figured as sodium salts. Amounts are percentages. W. H. Heileman, analyst.] 



No. 


Locality. 


Water- 
soluble 
salts in 
soil. 


Sodium 
chloride. 


Sodium 
bicar- 
bonate. 


Sodium 
sulphate. 


Sodium 
carbon- 
ate. 


1 




1.12 

.19 
2.85 
.17 
.18 
2.46 
.09 
.08 
.06 


0.30 
.02 
.75 
.02 
.03 
.30 
.01 
.02 
.02 


0.22 
.07 
.07 
.09 
.08 
.08 
.05 
.03 
.04 


0.59 

.11 

2.03 

.07 

.07 

2.08 








0.02 


o 







3 
4 


One-half mile south of Christmas Lake 

Well No. 21 :.. 






5 







6 







7 







8 







q 














Table B. — Plant-food analyses of soils represented in Table A. 

[Results are in per cent on air-dry soil. Analysis acid extract; Official Association method. W. H. 

Heileman, analyst] 



No. 


Insolu- 
ble resi- 
due. 


Mois- 
ture. 


Organic 
and vol- 
atile. 


Calcium 
(CaO). 


Phos- 
phoric 

acid 
(P 2 5 ). 


Potash 
(K 2 0). 


1 


73.45 
77.68 
66.62 
73.22 
78.67 
58.07 
79.14 
79.24 
76.85 


1.89 
2.79 
3.61 
3.23 
2.30 
4.20 
1.97 
2.56 
2.33 


6.50 
3.23 
5.80 
4.08 
5.00 
10.96 
3.65 
4.22 
4.59 


5.65 
1.51 
5.17 
2.51 
1.88 
10.70 
1.41 
3.16 
1.06 


0.18 
.14 
.19 
.05 
.11 
.38 
.13 
.12 
.11 


1.11 


2 


.73 


3 


1.01 


4 


.51 


5 


.30 


6 


.56 


7 


.54 


8 


.51 


9 


.56 







Table C. — Analyses of waters from southern Oregon. 
[W. H. Heileman, analyst.] 





A. 


B. 


C. 


D. 


E. 


F. 


Total solids « 


28.00 


10.00 


36.8 


235. 00 


432.80 


22.00 








1.33 

.82 

8.24 
2.90 

.00 
16.66 
3.44 

.00 


1.28 
.51 

1.38 
.17 
.00 

4.40 
.61 
.00 


2.24 
1.70 

8.35 
2.51 

.00 

25.30 

1.97 

.00 


5.56 
4.80 

70.00 
88.00 
.00 
78.80 
15.25 
Trace. 


8.20 
8.20 

128. 50 

204. 00 

.00 

44.10 

57.40 

Trace. 


1.18 




6.10 


Sodium and potassium (Na+ 
K) 


5.48 


Sulphate (S0 4 ) 


1.24 


Carbonate (C0 3 ) 


.00 




11.60 


Chlorine (CI) 


3.94 


Nitrate (N0 3 ) 


.00 






Total solids by summa- 


33.39 


8.35 


42.07 


262. 41 


450. 40 


29.54 







a In a letter accompanying the above analyses Mr. Heileman states that "Total solids " means total 
mineral solids "determined by evaporating a known portion of the clear water to dryness and weigh- 
ing the residue. In an evaporation there is always a loss of certain acid radicles, principally carbon- 
ate and bicarbonate, or at least a change in these two radicles. The effect of this is to make the total 
solids as directly determined lower in parts than is the summary of the analysis. There is good ground 
for assuming that the difference between total solids and the summary of the analysis is due to a loss 
in the bicarbonates in the total solids determination." 

A. Spring at Alkali Lake. 

B. Stream at A. Eglis's, Wagontire Mountain. 

C. Well of J. Wilson, near Fossil Lake. 

D. Well of J. C. Green, near Fossil Lake. 

E. Well of John Ross, Christmas Lake Valley. 

F. Springs of Ana River. 



SOIL CONSTITUENTS. 73 

The most noticeable facts shown by these analyses are the absence 
of carbonates in the waters and in all the soils except that of Thousand 
Spring Valley, and the high sulphate content, to which salt the bicar- 
bonate and chloride are of secondary importance. The three soils 
having highest sulphate content (samples 1, 3, and 6) are also the 
highest in chloride, containing percentages of these white alkalis 
that are considered to be the limit of tolerance for nearly any crop. 
For ordinary crops this limit is usually placed at 0.05 to 0.10 per cent 
for the carbonate of soda and 0.25 to 0.50 per cent for the chloride, 
while nearly 1 per cent of the sulphate may be endured. So it is seen 
that, with the exception of sample No. 1 (from J. H. Bonham's ranch, 
in Thousand Spring Valley), which has been found by trial too alka- 
line for plant growth, and Nos. 3 and 6, which were taken from 
evidently alkaline areas, the surface soils do not contain enough of 
the alkalis to be seriously detrimental. 

SOIL CONSTITUENTS. 

In Hilgard's recent work on soils the effects of the several valuable 
constituents of the soil, as well as of the alkalies, are fully treated. 
From his deductions the following extracts are taken: a 

INSOLUBLE RESIDUE. 

About 69 per cent has been found to be -the general average of 
insoluble matter in soils of arid regions throughout the United States. 
This consists chiefly of free silica (quartz), but the hydrous silicates, 
forming most of the material known as clays, are also usually included 
under this head. With this proportion the soils analyzed are seen to 
agree fairly well. 

LIME. 

Physically even a small amount of lime carbonate, by its solubility in the carbon- 
ated soil water, will act most beneficially in causing the flocculation of clay and in 
the subsequent conservation of the flocculent or tilth condition by acting as a light 
cement, holding the soil crumbs together when the capillary water has evaporated, 
thus favoring the penetration of both water and air and of the roots themselves. * * * 
Amounts of lime carbonate in excess of 2 per cent do not add to the favorable effects, 
except as would so much sand. 

As to chemical effects, among the most important are — 

1. The maintenance of the neutrality of the soil by the neutralization of acids 
formed by the decay of organic matter or otherwise. 

2. The maintenance, in connection with the proper degrees of moisture and warmth, 
of the conditions of abundant bacterial life, * * * more especially those of nitri- 
fication, thus supplying the readily assimilable form of nitrogen; also in favoring 
the development and activity of the root bacteria of legumes and of the other nitrogen- 
gathering bacteria, such as Azotobacter. * * * 

3. The rendering available, directly or indirectly, of relatively small percentages 
of plant food, notably phosphoric acid and potash. * * * 

4. The prompt conversion of vegetable matter into black, neutral humus and (as 
shown in the case of the soils of the arid region) the concentration of the nitrogen in 

a Hilgard, E. W., Soils, The Macmillan Company, 1906, p. 379 et seq. 



74 



GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 



the same, while accelerating the oxidation of the carbon and hydrogen, as shown 
by S. W. Johnson and others. 

******* 

7. In alkali soils, according to Cameron and May, it counteracts the injurious 
action of the soluble salts upon the growth of plants, not only in the form of carbon, 
ate, but also in those of sulphate and chloride. 

An average arid-region soil as given by Mercker, Halle station, 
Germany, contains 1.36 per cent lime, 0.73 per cent potash, and 0.12 
per cent phosphoric acid. For a "good" soil he gives the lime (in a 
sandy soil) at 0.20 to 0.30 per cent; potash, 0.25 to 0.40 per cent; 
phosphoric acid, 0.15 to 0.25 per cent; from which it is seen that the 
arid soils are usually low in phosphoric acid but high in lime and 
potash. 

With these results the soil analyses (Table B, p. 72) are seen to 
compare fairly well, being (with the exception of No. 6) rather low 
in phosphoric acid but high in lime. Sample No. 6 contains a very 
high lime content — too high, in fact, as it may cause marliness and 
render the soil unfavorable to plant growth unless properly handled. 

In general, however, the results of these analyses are satisfactory, 
showing the soils to be not far different from those of other fertile 
though arid valleys. They are well supplied with lime, potash, and 
organic matter, but are rather low in phosphoric acid. 

SALTS PRESENT. 

Around the lake edges and some playas of the higher lands efflores- 
cent saline crusts form. Ten of these were analyzed to determine the 
proportion of the several salts present, and the results are given in the 

following table: 

Tests on alkali samples (mostly crusts). 
[Results show percentage, figured on material analyzed. W. H. Heileman, analyst.] 















Calculated as sodium salt. 






Sulphates 












No. 


Locality. 


(S0 4 ), 
Qualitative 


Carbon- 
ates 


Bicar- 
bonates 


Chlorine 
(01). 


Sodium 


Sodium 
bicarbon- 

(NaHCOa). 


Sodium 






only except 


(C0 3 ). 


(HCO3). 


carbonate 


chloride 






No. 7. 








(Na 2 C0 3 ). 


(NaCl). 


1 


East, side Summer 
Lake. 


Heavy 


14.28 


b.93 


0.51 


25.28 


13.50 


0.84 


2 


South end Christ- 
mas Lake. 


do 


6.02 


4 65 


.38 


10.65 


6.32 


.63 


3b 


West side Alkali 
Flat. 


do 


6.74 


4.66 


6.23 


11. 93 


6.34 


10.28 


4 


Edge of pool in Al- 
kali Flat. 


do 


14.64 


9.07 


15.35 


25.90 


12.33 


25.31 


5 


Center of Alkali 
Flat. 


do 


3.74 


8.77 


.71 


6.62 


11.92 


1.17 


6 


Eastern pool north- 
west of Christmas 
Lake. 


Very heavy. 


.60 


.13 


2.25 


1.06 


.18 


3.71 


7 


Western pool 
northwest of 


(c) 
































Christmas Lake. 
















8 


Efflorescence in 
"Sucker Flat." 


Heavy 


.18 


.30 


1.67 


.32 


.41 


2.75 


9 


Playa in North Al- 
kali. 


do 


8.07 


6.43. 


5.15 


14.28 


8.74 


8.50 


10 


North end Lake 
Abert. 


do 


22.40 


10.24 


1.54 


39.65 


13.92 


2.54 



a Hilgard, Soils, p. 369. 

b An acid extract showed heavy lime-carbonate content. 

c Practically pure sodium sulphate (99 + per cent). 



ALKALINE SOILS. 75 

From these analyses it is seen that the sulphate of soda (Glauber's 
salt) is the most abundant in all these deposits, as it is in the soils 
themselves. 

The crust that forms over the playa of Alkali Lake is occasionally 
used as stock salt. As before stated, borax claims have been located 
in this flat, but analysis of the material shows it to consist, as else- 
where, of the sulphate, carbonates, and chloride of soda; there can be 
but little borax (biborate of soda) in this deposit. 

The pools about 10 miles northwest of Christmas Lake, from which 
samples Nos. 6 and 7 were obtained, are shown in PI. Ill, C (p. 10). 
The salt, No. 7, is also used for stock, but sometimes with injurious 
effects on the animals; nor is this to be wondered at, when analysis 
shows it to be nearly pure Glauber's salt. 

ALKALINE SOILS. 

The proper treatment of alkaline soils and the methods of farming 
in arid regions are treated in several bulletins of the Department of 
Agriculture," but a short discussion of the subject may not be out of 
place here. 

THE ALKALIES AND THEIR EFFECTS. 

The three chief salts known as alkali are the chloride, sulphate, and 
carbonate of soda, called respectively common salt, Glauber's salt, 
and sal soda. The two former are the white alkalies, while the latter 
is known as black alkali, since it turns organic matter with which it 
comes into contact brown or black. Borax also sometimes occurs as 
an alkali, but it is by no means as common as the others. The nitrate 
and phosphate of soda and the sulphate of potash also occur in nearly 
all soils, but as nutritive salts, essential to plant life, not as injurious 
ones. 

Plants vary greatly in the amount of alkali they will endure. 
Members of the Goosefoot family, which includes the saltbushes and 
beets, will stand much of all three salts, while the legumes (peas and 
beans) resent small amounts of either. Common salt and Glauber's 
salt are by no means as harmful as the black alkali. In general — 

* * * when present in soils to the exclusion of other salts, 0.05 per cent of sodium 
carbonate represents about the upper limit of concentration for common crops. One- 
half of 1 per cent of sodium chloride is commonly regarded as the endurance limit of 
crops, and 1 per cent of sodium sulphate. Sodium sulphate, then, is the least injurious 
and sodium carbonate the most injurious of the salts usually constituting the greater 
part of alkali under ordinary field conditions, while sodium chloride occupies a middle 
position. & 

a The following Farmers' Bulletins treat of subjects of especial interest to those living in the arid 
regions: No. 52, The Sugar Beet, 48 pp.; No. 77, The Liming of Soils, 24 pp.; No. 88, Alkali Lands, 
23 pp.; No. 10S, Saltbushes, 20 pp.; No. 139, Emmer: A Grain for the Semiarid Regions, 16 pp.; No. 215, 
Alfalfa Growing, 40 pp.; No. 266, Management of Soils to Conserve Moisture, 30 pp. These may be 
obtained free on application to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

& Dorsey, Clarence W., "Reclamation of alkali soils: Bull. No. 34, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. Agri- 
culture, 1906, p. 10. 



76 GEOLOGY AND WATERS OF PART OF OREGON. 

The chloride and sulphate seem to act largely by their presence in 
excess in the sap, reducing the vitality of the plant. The carbonate, 
attacking the bark of stalks and roots just beneath the surface, 
blackens it and makes it spongy, virtuall} 7 ; girdling the tree or plant. 
This salt also has the property of puddling the soil when much mois- 
ture is present, and forms a hardpan surface. 

The effect on plant life of the bicarbonates, which are also present 
in considerable amount, is but little understood, but it is not in gen- 
eral considered to be detrimental. 

Analyses of soils made by Heileman both before and after prolonged 
irrigation indicate that by flooding methods of irrigation the bicar- 
bonates are to some extent changed to carbonates, seeming to show 
that the carbonate salts are at all times unstable. 

Hilgard a also states that when irrigation ditches in sandy land sat- 
urate the soil, thus raising the water table and bringing close to the 
surface the entire mass of alkali salts and keeping them there for 
some time, " alkali salts originally 'white' Will by chemical change 
become 'black' by the formation of carbonate of soda from the 
Glauber's salt, greatly aggravating the injury to vegetation." 

TREATMENT OF ALKALINE SOILS. 

In regions of slight rainfall it is of particular importance that as 
much of the moisture as possible be kept in the' ground, near the 
surface, where it can best be taken up by plants. The prevention 
of evaporation is the chief object in this endeavor, and is partially 
accomplished by shading the ground, as in the case of alfalfa and 
similar crops that furnish their own shade, by mulching with straw, 
or by frequent cultivation to keep the upper few inches of soil in a 
light, porous condition, so as to prevent further rise of moisture to 
the surface. 

In arid lands brought under irrigation the increased evaporation 
often greatly accelerates the slower natural action of the ground 
waters in bringing to the surface and depositing soluble salts on 
evaporation, and regions formerly not alkaline, as the Yellowstone 
Valley near Billings, 6 may become so by excessive irrigation. 

Leaching down and washing out of the soil by thorough irrigation, 
where there is good underdrainage, is the best way of getting rid of 
these salts; but if the drainage is poor, the application of a minimum 
amount of water and cultivation to prevent its rise and evaporation 
is practiced to keep the salts down below the plant roots. For 
shallow-rooted crops, as the cereals, deep plowing, to turn the alka- 
line surface soil under, is also often of great benefit. 

a Hilgard, E. W., Nature, value, and utilization of alkali lands: Bull. No. 12S, College of Agriculture, 
Univ. California, 1900, p. G. 

b Whitney, Milton, and Means, Thomas H., The alkali soils of the Yellowstone Valley: Bull. No. 14, 
Division of Soils, U. S. Dept. Agriculture, 1898. 



ALKALINE SOILS. 77 

The chloride and sulphate can not be neutralized, but by the 
application of gypsum (land plaster) the carbonate may be changed 
to the comparatively harmless sulphate. 

Theoretically the amount of gypsum to be applied should be one- 
third more in weight than the amount of soda in the land, but owing 
to impurities in the commercial material about twice the theoretical 
amount is necessary to neutralize all of the soda. It is not necessary 
to apply it all at once, but this should be done when rains or irriga- 
tion will carry the gypsum down and bring it into contact with the 
sodium carbonate. The gypsum also changes any borax that may 
be present to the harmless borate of lime. Two hundred pounds to 
the acre is an ordinary treatment, the effect being noticeable in two 
or three days by the disappearance of the discolored spots. 

If in any of the valleys of Lake County it should be found desirable 
to use gypsum on parts of the land, it can probably be best obtained 
at Lime, on the eastern border of the State, where there is a deposit 
of good quality, as yet but little exploited. 

Almost all of the alkaline salts are contained in the upper 4 or 5 
feet of soil, and in level unirrigated lands they are often concentrated 
in the second or third foot. The amount of alkaline salts in a region 
is thus limited, and, aside from underdraining, may often be directly 
removed by collecting the crust by sweeping or with scrapers, and 
sometimes by planting and harvesting varieties of salt bush. Some 
of these take up nearly one-fifth of their dry weight of salts (mostly 
common salt), and hence materially reduce the alkaline content of 
the land. 

CONDITIONS IN LAKE COUNTY. 

It has been shown that throughout the valley lands of Lake County 
the chief alkali is the sulphate. The excess of lime in the soil, as has 
been stated, will to some extent compensate this, and with proper 
care in irrigating and plowing, it should not cause serious trouble. 
Neither are troubles from excessive irrigation and rise of the ground- 
water level apt to be serious in the valleys of Lake County, because 
of the fairly low present water level and the improbability of devel- 
opment of water to such an extent that it will be used lavishly. From 
the beginning, however, rather careful irrigation and cultivation 
immediately afterwards, is advisable, as the salts are much more 
easily kept down than gotten rid of when they have collected in serious 
amount. 

The high productiveness of the arid lands when brought under 
cultivation, and the noxious salts removed or kept down, makes 
them valuable and well worth reclaiming; hence they are receiving 
more and more attention as other vacant lands become scarcer. 



78 GEOLOGY AND WATEES OF PART OF OREGON. 

CROPS ADAPTABLE TO ALKALINE SOILS. 

Alfalfa when well started will stand a considerable amount of 
alkali, but the seed is extremely sensitive to black alkali, and is often 
killed before germination unless gypsum is used in sowing. Sugar 
beets are also adaptable to alkaline lands. Glauber's salt little 
affects their sugar-making quality, and a relatively large amount of 
common salt is required to render them unfit for this purpose. The 
cereals wheat, rye, and barley also resist moderate amounts of alkali. 
Root plants, however, such as potatoes, do not do well as a rule, 
tending to become watery when grown in alkaline ground. 

Of fruits, there are few that will grow on the desert tracts where 
alkali, drought, and frost must to a greater or less extent be endured; 
but of those suitable to regions subject to frosts grapes, pears, and 
apples will stand the greatest amount of alkali. Of other trees, for 
shade or wood, the conifers (pines, firs, cedars, etc.) are very sensi- 
tive to black alkali and will not endure much white alkali, hence they 
are usually debarred from the lower valleys of arid regions. Cotton- 
woods will grow where water is near the surface, but they can not 
withstand drought. Other trees, as the red gum, which will with- 
stand strong alkali, are susceptible to frost. Thus it is that, although 
pines, junipers, and cottonwoods are found along the margins, they 
do not grow native in the main parts of such valle} T s, which are given 
over to sage and salt bushes. 

COST OF DEEP WELLS. 

As few deep wells have been sunk in southern Oregon, there is 
among the settlers no definite idea of what such a well may cost. 
Figures showing the cost in other localities are therefore here intro- 
duced to indicate what may be expected in this matter. 

In unconsolidated alluvial materials wells are often bored to depths 
of 50 feet or more, and up to 3 feet in diameter, with forms of the 
earth auger or lipped bucket. Such an outfit was used successfully 
in Christmas Lake Valley in the summer and fall of 1906 to put down 
several wells. This method, of course, can not be used in compacted 
or coarse material. 

In deeper gravels and sands the California or " stovepipe" method 
is extensively used. In this method short sections of riveted steel pipe 
from 8 to 14 inches or more in diameter are sunk by hydraulic jacks, 
sometimes to a depth of more than 1,000 feet. The material within 
the casing is removed with a sand bucket or sand pump as the sink- 
ing proceeds, and the casing is perforated at water-bearing strata 
by a heavy cutting knife. This method is much used in southern 
California and in San Joaquin Valley in central California. 



COST OF DEEP WELLS. 



79 



The following tables, taken from Water-Supply Paper No. 137 of 
the United States Geological Survey, indicate the usual costs of such 
wells near Santa Ana, Cal. : 

Cost, per foot, of drilling wells. 





4-inch. 


5-inch. 


6-inch. 


7-inch. 


8-inch. 


9i-inch. 


10-inch. 


First 100 feet 


SO. 30 
.25 


10. 30 
.25 


50. 35-. 40 
. 20-. 30 


SO. 40 
. 20-. 35 


50. 40-. 50 
. 20-. 35 


SO. 60-. 65 
. 20-. 35 


SO. 65 


Additional for each 50-foot increase 


.35 



Following is the general price per foot of riveted steel casing made 
up into 2-foot joints of the sizes and gages generally used. The price 
varies, of course, with the steel market. 

Cost of well easing. 



Diameter in inches 


Gage. 


Price per 
foot. 


Diameter in inches. 


Gage. 


Price per 
foot. 


4 


16 
14 
16 
14 
16 
14 
16 
14 


SO. 32 
.38 
.35 

.a 

.42 

.50 
.48 

.55 


8 


16 
14 
12 
16 
14 
12 


$0.55 


4 


8 


.64 


5 


8 


.78 


5... 


9J. .. 


.65 


6 


94 


.75 


6... 


91-. 


.94 


7 

7 


10 

10 


16 
14 


.68 
.78 


N 







It should be remembered that these prices are for the material near 
centers of population; in a region like southern Oregon, therefore, the 
freight would make the cost considerably greater. 

The hydraulic method has been successfully used in fine sediments 
where other methods have failed. A powerful jet of water just below 
the casing loosens the material and carries it upward out of the hole, 
so that by adding joints at the top the string of casing is rapidly sunk 
into the silts. Often a 4-inch well can be sunk to a depth of 400 or 
500 feet, cleaned out, and perforated in a couple of days. These wells 
are usually sunk by contract, cased and ready for use, for about $1 
a foot. 

For penetrating rock, however, the oil rig, using a heavy drill bit 
alternately raised and dropped, is the only practical well-drilling out- 
fit. The following costs of drilling in other localities are given to 
show what may be expected in Lake County if deep drilling is at- 
tempted. In southeastern Washington the following prices rule: a 

The charges for well drilling in the southern part of the wheat lands [of Washington] 
are as follows: In soil, gravel, etc., above basalt, 50 cents a foot; in rock (which is 
generally in great part massive basalt, though other varieties after the first basalt is 
struck are not differentiated), $2.25 per foot for the first 300 feet, and 50 cents per foot 

a Calkins, F. C, Geology and water resources of a portion of east-central Washington: Water- 
Supply Paper No. 118, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1905, p. 60. 



80 GEOLOGY AND WATEES OF- PART OF OREGON. 

additional for each 100 feet below that depth. Water for the engine, coal, and board 
for the outfit are furnished by the owner of the ranch. 

In the vicinity of Ritzville [Washington] the terms are slightly higher. For the 
first 300 feet there the charge is $2.50, and 50 cents higher for each additional 50 feet. 
On these terms, however, the driller furnishes coal, the cost of which is estimated at 
about 25 cents for each foot drilled in basalt. In all cases water is guaranteed, and 
the risk of losing tools (which generally also necessitates abandoning the hole) is borne 
by the driller. The average cost of a well at these rates is probably not far from $800, 
though it reaches a maximum of over $2,000. 

"Stovepipe" wells can probably be sunk with success in Summer 
Lake and Goose Lake valleys, and possibly also in those of Silver 
and Christmas lakes. But in the latter two, if drilling for deep water 
be attempted, the country rock, basalt, will be met beneath the sedi- 
ments, and will probably have to be penetrated some distance before 
rock water, if such occurs, is struck. The idea, to some extent preva- 
lent, that water will be found "if one only goes deep enough" is a 
fallacy; and if the bottom of the basaltic series should be reached 
and more siliceous rock encountered, like the rhyolite of Gray 
Butte or of Horning Bend, work might as well be stopped, for there 
is little hope of striking water-bearing strata in such rock. It is 
improbable, however, that such material will be encountered in these 
valleys at depths to which drilling is apt to be carried. 

SUMMARY. 

The reclamation of the fertile lands in eastern Oregon will depend 
on the available supply of water, for, as President Roosevelt said in 
his first message to Congress in 1901, "In the arid region it is water, 
not land, which measures production." On this account there will 
probably always remain some fertile land, as in the southwestern 
part of the United States, irreclaimable for lack of water. While in 
some parts of the arid regions dry farming of grain is carried on with 
more or less success, it is improbable that it can profitably be followed 
in the valleys that have been under discussion. 

The supply of surface (stream) water available for irrigation in 
Lake County is fairly well known, and should it be developed it will 
by no means be sufficient to irrigate all of the arable land. The 
underground supply is as yet unknown, but on the whole, as has been 
shown, the indications seem favorable to the development of such 
water in the valleys of Silver, Christmas, and Summer lakes at least. 

The reclamation of these valleys will not only increase the agri- 
cultural wealth of the State, but its stock-raising interests will also 
be greatly benefited. In severe winters the supply of wild hay from 
the marshes is- very inadequate, and many head of stock perish every 
year from hunger and exposure. 



SUMMAEY. 81 

Grain, alfalfa, and sugar beets promise to be the chief crops in the 
valleys, and it seems that for several years to come nearly all produce 
will find a home market. The rocky high deserts will probably never 
be fit for other than grazing purposes, but if feed can be raised in the 
valleys, to carry greater numbers of sheep and cattle through the 
severe weather, the winter losses will be decreased and many more 
head of stock can be ranged in the country. The scarcity of water 
on the high deserts during the summer (when it is sometimes 30 miles 
between water holes) will remain a drawback to the grazing of cattle 
and sheep over these areas during this season. In other regions, as 
in Texas, wells have been sunk at intervals of 8 or 10 miles, and wind- 
mills and troughs supply this deficiency. But until tests have first 
been made in the more favorable localities, it can not be said whether 
it is possible or feasible thus to supply water on the Oregon plateaus. 

48133— irr 220—08 6 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abert Lake, alkali near, test of 74 

bluffs bordering 10 

changes in 38 

drainage to 31, 40, 41 

evaporation from 40 

scarp and landslide area near, view of . . . 12 

section of, figure showing 66 

view of 50 

water of, analysis of 13 

Abert Lake basin, description of 51-52 

Abrams, Le Roy, plants identified by 17 

Acidic eflusives, character and distribu- 
tion of 22 

Acknowledgments to those aiding 8 

Agriculture, character of 19 

Alkali, assays of 74 

nature and effects of 75-76 

presence of : 11-14, 74-75 

Alkali Flat, alkali at, tests of 74 

Alkali Lake, alkali at, use of 74 

hills near, view of 10 

sink near, view of 10 

view of 26 

water of, analysis of 72 

Alkali Lake valley, bluffs bordering 10 

description of 38,68-70 

soil of, analysis of 72 

springs in 69-70 

Alkaline soils, crops adapted to 78 

treatment of 75, 76-77 

Alkaline water, electrolytic tests of 13 

Alluvium, occurrence and character of 25 

water supply and, relation of ■ 25 

Analyses of soils, table of 71 

of waters, discussion of 66 

table of 72 

Ana River, description of 32 

flow of 40, 41-42 

source of 32. 54, 55-56- 

springs of 32, 54. 55-56 

water of, analysis of 72 

Ana River project, status of 70-71 

Andesite, occurrence and character of 22 

Animal life, character of 17 

Antelope Valley, description of 52 

Artesian conditions, occurrence of 45- 

46,56-57,58-59,67 

B. 

Basalt, occurrence and character of 23 

water in 47, 55 

Basaltic eff usives, character and distribu- 
tion of 23-24 



Beais, E. A., on Oregon climate 14 

Bear Creek, description of 32 

flow of 34, 35, 40 

Block structure, occurrence of 25 

origin of 28 

plates showing 50, 60 

Bluffs. See Scarps. 

Bonham, J. H., irrigation by 54 

Bridge Creek, description of 31-32 

flow of 34, 35, 40 

Buckhorn Creek, origin of 54 

Bullard Creek, flow of 39 

Burns, well near 48 

C. 

California , artesian water in 46 

Carey Act, project under 71 

Casing, well, cost of 79 

Chatard, T. M., on Abert Lake 13 

Chewaucan Marsh, bluffs bordering 10 

evaporation from 41 

section of, figure showing 66 

Chewaucan Marsh valley, description of 52-53 

origin of 53 

Chewaucan project, status of 70-71 

Chewaucan River, description of 31 

flow of 33, 35, 40, 55 

Chrisman, F. M., well of 58 

Christmas Lake, alkali at, test of 74, 75 

ground water near 65 

springs at 66 

Christmas Lake valley, agriculture in 61 

artesian possibilities in 67 

borings in 63-65 

burned area in, view of 58 

description of 59-68 

drainage of 33 

ground waters in 63-65, 66 

character of 65-66 

pumping in 62 

reservoirs in 62-63 

irrigation in 61-63 

lakes in 11-12 

map of 60 

pools in, view of 10 

rock waters in 67-68 

sagebrush in, view of 58 

sand hills in 11 

section of, figure showing 66 

settlement in 59-60 

soils of, analyses of 72 

springs in 66, 67 

views in 58 

83 



84 



INDEX. 



Christmas Lake valley, wells in 63-65 

wells in, waters of, analyses of 66, 72 

Cliff (post-office) , location of 59 

soil near, analysis of 72 

Climate, character of 14-16 

Colorado Desert, Cal., artesian water in... 45 

Condon, Thomas, work of 8 

Connell-Ritzville district, Washington, rock 

water in 67-68 

Cope, E. D., work of 8 

Cottonwood Creek, description of 32 

flow of 39 

Conley Hills, structure of 59 

Coyote Creek, description of 31, 52 

flow of 35, 40 

Coyote Hills, gold in 20 

Crater Lake, evaporation from 41 

Crooked Creek, description of 31 

flow of 35, 41 

Crooks Peak, altitude of 9 

Crops, nature of 16-17, 19, 78, 80-81 

D. 

Decomposition of soil, depth of 44, 45 

Deep waters, occurrence of 46, 57 

relation of, to rock structure 46-48 

temperature of 48 

Deformation, effects of 28-29 

Desert land law, provisions of 61, 62 

Diller, J. S., on evaporation 41 

Dorsey, C. W., on alkali 75 

Drainage, lack of 9, 10 

See also Streams; Lakes. 
Drews Creek, description of 32 

flow of 39 

Dry Creek, flow of , 39 

E. 

Effusive rocks, character and distribution of 22-24 

Electrolytic bridge, tests of water by 13 

Elevations, data on 9 

Erosion, effects of 29-30 

Eruptive rocks, character and distribution 

of 24 

Evaporation, rate of 40-42 

F. 

Fall River, flow of 43 

Faults, occurrence and character of 25-26, 28 

relation of, to scarps 27 

relation of, to underground water 47 

Field work, extent of 7-8 

Folds, occurrence and character of 26-27,28 

Forests, relation of, to run-off 36-37 

Forests, National, reservation of 71 

Fort Douglas, Utah, evaporation at 41 

Fort Rock, location and character of 23 

view of 26 

well near 65 

Fossil Lake, sand hills near 11 

settlement at 59-60 

soil near, analysis of 72 

springs at 59-60 

wells near, water of, analyses of 72 

See also Sucker Flat. 

Fremont, John C, exploration by 20-21 



G. Page. 

Gannett, Henry, on evaporation 41 

on Oregon lumber 19-20 

Geography, description of 9 

Geologic cross sections, plate showing 66 

Geologic history, outline of 27-31 

Geology, account of 21-31 

Germany, soil of, lime in 74 

Glauber's salt, effects of 75-76 

Gold, discovery of 20,21 

Goose Lake, bluffs bordering 10 

changes in 12, 38 

drainage to 32, 39, 42-43 

evaporation from 40, 43 

Goose Lake Valley, description of 50-51 

section of, figure showing 66 

springs in 51 

Grazing, industry of 18-19, 80-81 

Ground water, level of 44-45 

supply of 80 

See also particular valleys, places, etc. 
Gypsum, neutralization by 77 

H. 

Harney, well near 48 

Harney Basin, wells in. 48 

Heileman, W. H. , analyses by 71, 76 

High desert, deformation on 29 

location and character of 10 

sink in, view of 10 

Hilgard, E. W., on soils 73-74,76 

History of settlement, notes on 20-21 

History, geologic, outline of 27-31 

Honey Creek, description of 32-33, 49 

Hydrography, description of 31-43 

Hydrology, description of 43-48 

I. 

Immigration, beginning of 21 

Industries, description of 18-20 

Irrigation, relation of, to alkali 76 

J. 

Johnson Creek, flow of 40,55 

source of 54 

Juniper Canyon, springs in 54-55 

K. 

Kelly Creek, flow of 39 

Keno, evaporation at 41 

L. 

Lake deposits, description of 24 

Lakes, changes in 12, 30, 37-38 

character and distribution of 9, 11-12 

origin of 30 

views of 10, 26, 50 

water of, character of 12-14 

Lake valleys, descriptions of 49-70 

Lakeview, rainfall at 15-16, 39 

springs near 51 

temperature at 15 

view of 18 

water supply of 50 

Landes, I., flow measurements by 32 

Landslides, occurrence and character of 11,25 

view of 12 



INDEX. 



85 



Page. 

Lava, character and distribution of 11 

Lime, deposition of 24 

occurrence of, in soil 73-74 

Lime (post-office) , gypsum at 77 

Long, A. W., well of 65 

Lost Cabin gold district, mining in 20 

Lost Creek, description of 33 

Lumbering, work of 19-20 

M. 

Map, geologic, of Oregon Pocket. 

Map, index, showing location of area 7 

Map, reconnaissance, of south-central Ore- 
gon Pocket. 

Mining, beginning of 20 

Monoclines, relation of, to ground water 47 

Moss Creek, description of 31, 52 

flow of 35,40 

Mound Spring, description of 66, 67 

Mountains, character and distribution of . . 9 

N. 

New Pine Creek, gold mining on 20 

location of 50 

North Alkali Valley, alkali in, test of 74 

soil of , analysis of 72 

water in 69-70 

Northern desert, drainage of 33 

O. 

Obsidan, occurrence and character of 22 

Oregon, geologic map of Pocket. 

maps of 7, Pocket. 

P. 

Paisley, description of 52 

flow at 33 

weather station at 14 

Pauline Marsh, description of 58 

evaporation from 41 

Peter Creek, description of 33, 64 

soil on, analysis of 72 

wells on 64-65 

Physiography, development of 27-31 

Plant life, effects of alkali on 75-76 

Plant food, relation of, to soils 72 

Playas, character and distribution of 10 

Population, data on 18 

Q. 

Quaternary lakes, history of 30-31 

R. 

Railroads, access by 18 

Rainfall, records of 14-16 

relation of, to run-off 35-36 

Reclamation, future of 80-81 

Reclamation law, provisions of 70-71 

Reclamation projects, descriptions of 70-71 

Rhyolites, occurrence and character of 22 

Rocks, character and age of 21-22 

descriptions of 22-25 

structure of 25-27 

Run-off, relation of, to forests 36-37 

relation of, to rainfall 35-36 

Russell, I. C, on southern Oregon 30, 47 



Page. 
Russell, I.C., work of 8 

S. 

Sagebrush, view of 58 

Salt bush, alkali removed by 77 

Saltpeter, occurrence of 20 

Salts. See Alkali. 

Sand dunes, character and distribution of. . 11 

Sand Springs, description of 66 

view of 58 

Sandstone, occurrence of 47 

Scarps, description of 9-10 

origin of 28-29 

relation of, to folds 27 

view of 12 

Settlements, description of 18 

Sevenmile Ridge, borings near 65 

Shallow waters, occurrence of 44-46, 56-57 

Silver Creek, description of 31 

flow of 34, 35, 40 

Silver Lake, bluffs bordering 10 

changes in 12, 37-38 

drainage to 31-32 

evaporation from 40, 41 

flow near 34 

water of, character of 14 

Silver Lake (post-office) , rainfall at 15, 39 

temperature at 15 

wells at 58 

Silver Lake project, status of 70-71 

Silver Lake Valley, artesian prospects in. . . 58-59 

description of 57-59 

Sinks, character and distribution of 10 

views of 10 

Snyder, J. P., work of 8 

Soda, occurrence of 20 

Soils, analyses of 71 

constituents of 73-75 

description of 71-78 

plant food in 72 

See also Alkaline soils. 
South Warner Valley, section of, figure 

showing 66 

Spencer, J. W., on rock decay 44 

Sprague River, drainage to 32 

Springs, occurrence and character of 32, 

33, 41-43, 54-57, 58, 69-70 

view of 58 

Stock raising, industry of 18-19 

Stovepipe well, description of 78-80 

Streams, descriptions of 31-37 

supply from 80 

Structure, description of 25-27 

plates showing 50. 60, Pocket. 

relation of, to ground water 46-48 

Sucker Flat, alkali at, test of 74 

settlement at 59-60 

wells on 65 

Summer Lake, alkali at, test of 74 

bluffs along 10 

changes in 38 

drainage to 32, 40 

evaporation from 40, 41-42 

landslides near 10 

name of 20 

water of, character of 13-14 



86 



INDEX. 



Page. 
Summer Lake Valley, artesian possibilities 

in 56-57 

description of 53-57 

springs in 54-56 

streams of 53-54 

Synclines, relation of, to ground water 46 

T. 

Temperature, records of 14-15 

Terraces, occurrence and character of 30-31 

Thorn Lake, changes in 38 

water of, character of 14 

Thousand Springs Valley, character of 42, 54 

soil of, analysis of 72, 73 

springs of 55 

Topography, description of 9-11 

Tuff, occurrence and character of 23-24 

water in 47 

Twelvemile Creek, description of 32-33, 49 

U. 

Underground waters, types of 43 

See also Shallow waters; Deep waters. 



V. 

Valley fill, character of 24-25 

Vegetation, nature of 16-17 

Volcanism, traces of 11 

W. 

Wagontire Mountain, water at, analysis of. 72 

Warner, W. H., exploration hy 21 

Warner Canyon, flow in 39 

Warner Creek, description of 32-33, 49 

Warner Lake, changes in -. 12,38 

Warner Valley, bluffs bordering 10, 49, 50 

description of, 49-50 

drainage of 32-33, 49 

section of, figure showing 60 

Water. See Streams; Ground water; Lakes. 

Weil boring, methods and costs of 78-80 

Wells, deep, cost of 78-80 

See also particular valleys, places, etc. 

Winter Ridge, location of 10 

name of 20 

Woodward Hot Spring, description of 55 



o 




)NNAISSANCE TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF SOUTH-CENTRAL OREGON 
BY G. A. WARING 




T^TONNAISSANOK OKOUXKO MAI' OF SOUTH CENTRAL OREGON 

BY G. A. WARING 



EJL'09 



o 



\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 953 851JJ1 



